The Lost Prodigy
by a shadow of the heart
Summary: Naruto neglect fic. Powerful Naruto (kinda wasn't supposed to be but... oh well). Warnings: already it has turned weird... may have slight bashings...(can't really tell) Read and you may like...
1. Chapter 1

Hey guys I couldn't really stand waiting for another chapter to come out, so this story is based of The Neglected Prodigy by TriDoxium. I don't really want to get to attached or into a story that _needs_ to continue, just in case I need to take this down later. If I could take silence as a yes then I would. But you never know.

Also other ideas from other fic's that I've read may come through. so _please don't hate me!_ I can't remember which ones they may have come from, so yeah...

Disclaimer: well it's pretty obvious that I couldn't come up with something as great as Naruto, and that right could only belong to Masashi Kishimoto.

On a side note, you probably won't be seeing many line breaks after this. They kind of annoy me.

* * *

Speech thingys.

"Normal"

 _Normal Thought_

 **Kurama**

 **Jutsu**

Thought to add the time brackets thing in here to -  
 _ **{Flashback / Different Places / Different People.}**_

* * *

 _ **{Glossed over attack of Kurama and events leading to it.}**_

Minato smiled as one of the happiest days was about to occur. The twins - Aiko and Naruto - his wife Kushina was carry were being born.

During the birth though, a masked man had released Kurama from Kushina after distracting Minato by taking his two newborns hostage and setting explosive tags on their blankets.

The only way to save the rest of the villagers and the village Minato was forced to seal Kurama's chakra into Aiko and the soul into Naruto.

On that night, the Shinigami spared Minato's life, in exchange that he would be able to take something of equal value that would be yet to come. Minato thinking only of Kushina and the twins agreed, not knowing that he had just condemned his son for loneliness throughout most of his life.

* * *

 _ **{Seven years later.}**_

Naruto sat watching his parents training Aiko through the window in his room. He had been watching Aiko get what she wanted for two years now. His parents barely acknowledging his existence. Other than the fact that he may get punished for something that was originally Aiko's fault. And sometimes just because she was bored Aiko would find something else to blame on him, never noticing the effect that this had on her older twin.

While being neglected at home, Naruto would be afraid to walk through the village in fear that he would be hurt over and over again by the villagers. Kids were the worst as they would drag him into an alleyway and beat him as a way to try and subdue the fear that their parents had of him becoming the monster that resided inside him or throw rocks and stones at him. Adults on the other hand would try and pull their kids away from him, . Of course it's not like the kids know this.  
What no one seemed to notice that Kurama was starting to regain a little amount of chakra each day, that just went into healing his containers body each time he was beaten. Or that Kurama had made contact with Naruto about at the same time that Aiko had accessed his chakra.

 _ **{ Flashback. Four years ago}.**_

Naruto sat quietly drawing in his room when he heard a voice.

 **They are going to start hating you soon.**

He tried looking around for the source but couldn't find anyone else with him there.

 **Stop looking around, Kid. You aren't going to find anyone out there.**

"Where are you?" Naruto asked quietly, still glancing around.

 **Inside your mind.** The voice paused for a minute. **As for your next question, I am Kurama.**

"Why are you talking to me?"

 **Your sister has most of my chakra at the moment. I want you to get it back.**

"Will it hurt her?"

 **That doesn't matter.**

"But I don't want to hurt her." Naruto started to feel panicky at this. He wasn't going to hurt his younger sister at any cost. Kurama, taking this as a chance, pushed some of his chakra out at the moment the Aiko had come into Naruto's room. Without knowing what was happening Aiko began to scream as Kurama's chakra began to surface.

Only seconds had passed and both Minato and Kushina were at Naruto's door, horror spreading over their faces as they watched Kurama's chakra start to form around Aiko, before quickly sealing the chakra back inside her. Leaving a very angry Kurama to yell inside Naruto's head.

A few minutes after Minato and Kushina had made sure that Aiko was going to be safe in her room, Kushina stormed back into Naruto's room with Minato following silently behind her.

They both saw that Naruto was back to drawing but not really paying attention to it, as he was also pressing a hand to his head.

"Naruto what did you do?" Kushina yelled as she took hold of the hand that Naruto was drawing with.

Minato tried to calm his wife down until his son spoke.

"Aiko didn't knock, so she got hurt -" Naruto looked at his parents, not realizing that what he had just said was going to change the way his parents looked at him, the way they were going to act around him.

But he couldn't continue as Kushina slapped his face and Minato telling Naruto that he was only allowed to come out of his room for meals until told otherwise, before having to take Kushina out of the room before she could do anymore damage to the situation.

As Naruto sat there, tears started to roll down his cheeks. He didn't go out of his room for lunch or dinner that day.

And this was the starting of the deal Minato made with the Shinigami.

 _ **{Present time. Naruto's mindscape.}**_

 **Hey Kid, you finally made your way here.**

"How did I end up in here?" Naruto looked around the dimly lit place before looking in the cage holding Kurama.

 **Your mind needed to relax, so just let me take control for a few minutes.**

"No! You'll hurt people again!" Naruto cried out, feeling Kurama try to take control anyway. "No! Stop it!"

Naruto fell to his knees in the shallow water.

 **Is this the thanks I get Kid? For healing you all those times? Being denied what I want?**

Instead of trying to talk Naruto crawled between the bars holding Kurama. "I don't want you to hurt people. Don't hurt people."

 **You still care for them, even after all they've done?** Kurama sounded incredulous, trying to figure out why the kid would still want to protect them.

Naruto couldn't reply to Kurama, and yet Kurama still waited. Finally giving up on getting an answer that might actually make sense to him, he decided to do something that may greatly benefit him later. He would train the kid.

 _ **{Naruto's bedroom.}**_

 _Kurama?_ Having realized earlier on in life that if his parents were to hear him talk about Kurama in his room alone, they would instantly remember what had happened four years ago, and punish him all over again. Also each time this happened, he would be taken to the hospital and left there until the staff deemed him sane enough to come back home.  
Instead Naruto preferred to be ignored. It meant freedom to wander around in the shadows, trying to avoid the villagers as he was walking.

 **Now Kid, go find some secluded place. I don't want anyone to find you.  
** _What are we doing going there anyway?_ Naruto's thoughts kept wandering on the topic, sometimes going from one subject to the next until Kurama told him to give it a rest, only Naruto wasn't really paying attention.

 **If you hurry up and find a place, you'll find out!** Kurama roared, making Naruto's mind silent for a bit.

 _Hey Kurama, does this look like a good place?_ Naruto asked, knowing full well that Kurama could see out of his eyes, even if he wasn't in control.

 **Not many people would be stupid enough to follow you in there. And it's good that a barrier can be placed around it so that no one will be able to sense your chakra.** Kurama intentionally left out telling Naruto about the fact that his chakra would be accessible to him by the end of this. **Not many people will be able to tell that you are training in here either. Anyway Kid, you know what this place is called don't you?**

"Yeah…" Naruto looked at the wire fence meant to keep people out in awe. "This is the Forest of Death."

 _ **{A few days after entering the Forest of Death.}**_

 **Come on Kid. You can do better than that.**

"But Kurama, you said yourself yesterday that this was going to take time."

 **Time you don't really have should you want to catch up to my chakra container.** Kurama thought for a few minutes about whether to tell Naruto about a jutsu that would stop everything for a period of time.

"Kurama, what are you thinking about?" Naruto asked, wondering why Kurama had stopped talking.

 **There is a way for you to gain a years' worth of training in one day. Only the jutsu shouldn't be used everyday, and it will take a toll on your body and mind.** Kurama warned, still wanting Naruto to use the jutsu though, as it would mean that he would be able to control his container at times afterwards. **The most times that you should ever do this jutsu should be limited to once or twice a week, but with me helping you, we'll be able to do much more than that.**

"Okay Kurama, let's begin shall we?"

 _ **{Halfway through the next day. Halfway through a year of training.}**_

 **Alright Naruto, let me see what you can do with** **Suiton: Mizu Kamikiri** **.  
** Naruto huffed as he once again repeated the jutsu, waiting for Kurama to say that it was going to be good enough. Lucky for him though, after Kurama had seen the deep split in the earth and the uprooted trees he seemed happy at Naruto's progress.

 **You're getting better and better Kid. It still needs work but for now, you'll be learning** **Suiton: Ja no Kuchi** **. The hand seals are as follows: Monkey, Rat, Tiger, Dragon, Horse, Dragon. Also like before, go find that river. It'll be easier to start learning that way.**

Naruto kept at it for the rest of that day in the time frame year. Before the next day actually made little progress. A column of water rose a meter off the ground before falling back into the river. A little each day until before a month before the year was to end, Naruto had been making progress to reaching the standard that Kurama wanted with the river there to help him.

 **Naruto make a** **Kage Bushin** **and try it on him.**

Naruto rolled his eyes at Kurama's demand, but still followed through with it anyway.

" **Kage Bushin no Jutsu** **.** " Naruto stared at the clone, before muttering an apology. " **Suiton: Ja no Kuchi** **.** "

Naruto watched as his clone was hit with the snake's mouth, before watching it disappear disappear in the river that the snake's mouth had become.

"Thanks Kurama. Same as before?" Naruto asked, already knowing that Kurama was going to tell him to move as far away from the stream again and try the jutsu again.

 **Yes. You might want to hurry on working that without the river though. You've only got one more month till the day is up.**

"I guess that we'll just have to wait and see, right Kurama?" Naruto chuckled a little before doing what he always seems to do now. Follow Kurama's lead.

 _ **{Completion of Day. Completion of year.}**_

Naruto quickly moved away from the Forest of Death, aware of how much destruction had changed the landscape inside. He made it home just in time to get cleaned up to sit at the dinner table. Naruto looked at his plate of food, knowing that his parents really only gave him food and shelter.

 **Hey Kid, next time we go back, you're starting taijutsu. I don't want a container who can't handle what he gives out. Also you're looking a little thin at the moment.**

 _Okay Kurama. Are we going back tomorrow?_ Kurama hadn't responded and Naruto wondered why when his 'Father' spoke to him.

"Naruto, aren't you happy for your sister?" Minato asked, watching for Naruto's reaction.

Naruto, completely at a loss as to what they were talking about previously just nodded his head in agreement with him, before quickly finishing his dinner and racing up to his room, falling asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

* * *

As I was saying before you probably won't see many line breaks unless I feel that they absolutely need to be there.

Anyway. This is turning out slightly differently than what I had first thought it would.

About the jutsu's. The jutsu to manipulate time definitely came from The Neglected Prodigy, but since I made it slightly different, I also want to give it a different name, but I'm not sure as to what, any ideas would be helpful.

Pretty much all jutsu's that I use in here will be able to be found at .com

And because they're all in english in there, here they are

 **Suiton: Mizu Kamikiri** = Water Release: Rising Water Slicer.

 **Suiton: Ja no Kuchi** = Water Release: Snake's Mouth.

 **Kage Bushin no Jutsu** = Shadow clone jutsu.


	2. Chapter 2

What I have realized is that a seven year old is learning these jutsu. Also because of the time thing, his mentality will change before what his body will, as I figure that it's going to look weird if his body is aging a year in a day each time someone would see him, it would definitely raise some eyebrows. So to an extent he will have a slightly changed body, but it will still be a seven year olds. Otherwise I'm kinda just rolling where the inspiration leads.

Should probably also explain that this is happening because they aren't in Naruto's mindscape, it does involve his body. I figure that also the time jutsu don't really affect the aging of the body of the peoples involved.

And don't worry, I did ask still waiting for reply though.

* * *

Speech thingys.

"Normal"

 _Normal Thought_

 **Kurama**

 **Jutsu**

Thought to add the time brackets thing in here to -  
 _ **{Flashback / Different Places / Different People.}**_

* * *

 **Hey Kid, wake up. They're leaving now.**

Naruto blinked sleepily, just wanting to sleep for a few more minutes.

 **Get up Now Kid!**

Naruto fell to the floor with a thump. _Kurama, don't be so loud. We've still got plenty of time._

Naruto yawned but immediately moved about as Kurama was making him. He pouted, knowing that Kurama only wanted to get back to the Forest of Death for some taijutsu training.

 _ **{Hokage's office. Minato}**_

Minato looked over the mountain of paperwork that he had just received. He groaned slightly before sensing someone just in front of his desk.

He looked over at the ANBU with the crow mask. "Hokage-sama. There is something of upmost importance at Training Ground 44."

Minato nodded at the ANBU before using **Shunshin** to meet the ANBU at Training Ground 44.

 _ **{A few minutes later. Training ground 44 / Forest of Death.}**_

Minato looked over the destruction with wide eyes, wondering who could possibly do so much damage with no one noticing. A lot of the terrain next the river had suffered the most damage as well as the area surrounding it.

"Report back as soon as you find out who could have done this." Minato told the surrounding ANBU before using **Shunshin** to teleport back to his office. He held his head in his hands before deciding to continue on with the paperwork that seems to have grown in the time that he was out.

 _ **{Back with Naruto. Forest of Death.}**_

Naruto watched the ANBU moving around his training ground. He sighed before sneaking away from the area. Sadly for him though, he was stopped a few moments later when one of the ANBU appeared in front of him.

"What are you doing here kid?" The ANBU asked, staring down at the Hokage's son, before deciding that he would take him to Lord Fourth.

 _ **{Hokage's Office.}**_

Naruto stood, watching the Hokage talking to ANBU that had brought him here. Finally the ANBU left and Minato looked at his son.

"What were you doing all the way out there Naruto?" Minato asked, not showing any imparticular interest as to what his son was going to say.

"I wanted to know what was going on, Hokage-sama." Naruto responded, never once relaxing around Minato.

"What would have happened should you have gotten hurt?"

Naruto stayed silent, just waiting until he was dismissed. Minato already having turned back to the mountains of paperwork dismissed him, entirely forgetting about his answer.

Naruto returned home after that, going to Minato and Kushina's library as directed by Kurama.

 **Now Kid, take the beginning sealing scrolls. You're going to be reading as well this time.**

Naruto followed Kurama's directions and took the scrolls on beginning Fuinjutsu as well as the ones basic scrolls on it. Before leaving the house again, careful not to be seen by Kushina.

 _ **{A Few Minutes Later. Field Where Naruto Trains With Yamato And Kakashi In Canon.}**_

 **All right Kid, I've put the jutsu in place, now all you need to do is make the hand seals.** Kurama felt a little gleeful, having Naruto use the jutsu again. Once that was finished Naruto made a **Kage Bushin** and allowing Kurama to control the movements of it.

 **Get ready Kid, cause I won't take it easy on you.**

Naruto and spared with what could have figuratively been Kurama during the days and would read during the nights. So nearly a month after building up his physical strength, Kurama decided to relinquish control of **Kage Bushin** most of the time and allow Naruto to continue to spar on his own, only taking control back when there was something that needed to be brought up to scratch. Throughout the months after that, Kurama helped Naruto with Fuinjutsu. Now at the very least Naruto could store things away. After having done that Kurama started to teach Naruto a gravity seal for the next time that he would spar against his clone.

Before the year was over Naruto had managed to strengthen his body to that of a high level genin. He had noticed that his chakra would have also skyrocketed thanks to the two years worth of training that he'd had. Thankfully Kurama had told him that he wouldn't have too worry too much as he had been suppressing Naruto's chakra outside of the time frame.

"Our year's up. Do you think that we could move out of that place soon Kurama?" Naruto asked right before the jutsu was about to fade. Staring at some of the craters that he had been slammed into, hoping that this time, no ANBU would come and disrupt his training ground.

 **Yeah Kid. We could.**

 _ **{At The Family Household.}**_

Naruto had just started eating his dinner when Aiko pushed his chair over from the other side of the table. Naruto not really having anything to grab on to took his plate with him, spilling the food still on it. Kushina growled at him for wasting the food, before getting him to clean it up and sending him to his room.

Minato let out a disappointed sigh after he had left. "If only he could act a little more civilized."

Aiko looked sad, not wanting to have pushed her brother over, just wanting to have his attention. Quickly finishing her dinner she left her plate on the bench and went to Naruto's room.

Once inside she saw that everything was gone. Once she left the room to go tell her parents, a strange sensation came over her and she forgot all about Naruto's room. Or the fact that she had just seen everything gone from inside it.

 _ **{At The Training Ground.}**_

Naruto stared around what was going to be his new home, finally allowing Kurama to take momentary control. Though Naruto didn't really have a choice, as Kurama's will was stronger than Naruto's at the moment. Kurama though, knowing that he wasn't going to get much time in control of Naruto's body this time, used his chakra to build a house and made a few trees grow around it, keeping it hidden from view.

"Thanks Kurama. At least out here we don't have to worry about anyone." Naruto said on a sigh, just thinking about people who might come and ruin the peace that he would now have.

 **It's all good Kid, but remember that you are going to have to go back into the village for food. You aren't going to be starving out here. And besides that, the longer we train the faster that my chakra will return to be at your disposal.** Kurama then proceeded to tell Naruto to go inside and choose what would absolutely need to be inside, other than a fuuton and food. Knowing that anything could be bought otherwise, and just needing the place for storage, he could easily use scrolls, and in the event that someone did actually find him, he could use the large front room as a joint kitchen - lounge area, while the slightly smaller room would be his and the smallest room would be the bathroom. Although sorting it all out, Naruto knew that no one would find him for a while with the way that he was planning on staying out of everyone's view.

Later that Day Naruto went into the village to buy food and sneak more scrolls from Minato and Kushina's personal library. Successfully if he could say so himself. Not only that, Kurama was pleased with Naruto, getting him to take more scrolls on jutsus that he probably wouldn't need for a long time to come.

 _ **{Next Morning.}**_

Naruto woke when the sunlight hit his face. Already knowing that Kurama was going to tell him to go out into the giant expanse of field and perform the time manipulation jutsu. Once he had done that, he opened a scroll that he had taken from the library. Opening it up, he saw a list of **Suiton Jutsus.** Kurama recognizing some of them, told Naruto to start with learning **Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu.** Once again using the water around him to help.

 _ **{Three Months In The Year-Day}**_

Naruto puffed as Kurama finally allowed him to move onto a more exciting jutsu. **Suiton: Suiryudan no Jutsu**. **This is the next jutsu you will be learning.** Kurama started explaining, having captured Naruto's attention the moment he said new jutsu. **Now remember Kid, there are many hand seals for this, and should you mess up in any slight way, not only will the jutsu fail, with all the water rushing you, it may very well kill you.**

"Okay Kurama. We just need to catch up to Aiko, and then I'll join the ninja academy. You'll be proud when we do, won't you Kurama?" Naruto asked innocently, knowing that he was going to be using the time manipulation everyday until he was sure that he had caught up to his younger sister in terms of strength.

Kurama on the other hand, had different plans after making Naruto stronger than most shinobi. **Alright Kid, lets begin. I'll say the hand seals slowly, and make sure that you repeat them afterwards. I am not allowing you to die so soon.**

"Okay Kurama, let's begin." Naruto stated, ready for Kurama to begin.

 **Ox, Monkey, Hare, Rat, Boar, Bird, Ox, Horse, Bird, Rat, Tiger, Snake. When you can say these back to me without fail, then we will move onto the next set of hand seals in the jutsu.**

On and on it went. Kurama making sure that Naruto was going to get the right hand seals should he perform the jutsu. Kurama let out a smile as he watched Naruto practicing his hand seals along while saying what the seals were.

Eventually telling him the rest of the hand seals in the same way, before allowing Naruto to try the jutsu. By the end of the week, he had memorized everything and had begun the process of learning the jutsu.

 **All right Kid, after you've learnt this, you can join the academy. We'll be able to allow your taijutsu to get stronger and they can teach you about other jutsus. Just make sure that while you're there, to keep at a constant level. Don't show off.**

"Okay Kurama. I won't." Naruto agreed happily. Knowing that he would be able to keep training under Kurama this way.

 **Now back to work Kid.**

 _ **{Completion of Year. Next Morning - Normal Time.}**_

Naruto set about getting ready, excited about starting at the academy. Although he was a little worried that he would be recognized as Minato's son, Kurama told him not to worry. Saying that he could always tell other people that he didn't know if they were related or not. _Hey Kurama, what should my name be if I don't want them to know who I'm related to?_

 **Yoshi Tsubasa. Since you seem to be very quiet while around other people and you have also been taken under my** _ **wing**_ **in a sense.** Kurama explained. Telling him to hurry up and get there and learn something new.

While they were walking there Kurama performed the time manipulation jutsu, causing Naruto to stop and frown. **Take another year or so, I want you to be able to fend for yourself once you get there.**

Naruto rolled his eyes, but listened to Kurama anyway, deciding to take this time to go take some scrolls from his parents library.

* * *

Whoop, done. Wasn't really sure where this chapter was going to end to be honest. Glad it ended there though.

Also, I've got a poll on my page about what the time jutsu should be called… Ummm… I probably be updating every one to two weeks around the end of the week. And we shall continue to warn you that this has turned weird…

let me know what you think….

Jutsu used:

 **Suiton: Suiryudan no Jutsu** = Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet

 **Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu** = Water Release: Water Bullet.

 **Shunshin no Jutsu** = Body Flicker Technique.

 **Kage Bushin no Jutsu** = Shadow Clone Jutsu.


	3. Chapter 3

Yay, back again. Yep. Naruto comes in halfway during their finishing year. And since I started this before making a time jump, it may seem a little weird. Just saying.

* * *

Speech thingys.

"Normal"

Normal Thought

Kurama

Jutsu

Thought to add the time brackets thing in here to -  
{Flashback / Different Places / Different People.}

* * *

{At The Academy. Five Years Later.}

Naruto stood in front of the class next to Iruka. He could see his younger twin sitting next to the Hyūga heir. He saw Aiko's eyes widen as she saw him standing in front of her. It seemed like there was guilt hidden in her eyes, and that didn't go away as Iruka introduced him as Yoshi Tsubasa, but she seemed more relaxed than a moment ago. Naruto walked to the only spare seat, which just happened to be in front of the two and between a certain pink haired girl and the last Uchiha. Naruto took in the scene and pushed the Uchiha over to sit on the end. The pink haired girl was ecstatic and had hearts in her eyes.

The Uchiha however wasn't happy with the newcomer and pushed him out of the seat, giving him a glare as he knew that the blonde boy would retaliate. Only the boy smirked at him, before sitting down and saying in a cold voice, "I just know that we're going to be great friends."

All right Kid, you can upstage him. He seems too uptight.

Thanks Kurama. Naruto smirked at Kurama's comment, knowing full well that it probably wasn't going to happen as Kurama wanted. The looks that he got from the surrounding students varied from shock to disappointment. Maybe a hint of fear, but mostly curiosity. This boy was a mystery to them, and the way he acted towards the Uchiha caused many girls to glance at him a second time as they tried to evaluate him more thoroughly.

Aiko leaned down over the desk and tapped him on the shoulder, hoping to catch his attention. "Hey, I'm Aiko Uzumaki-Namikaze, but you can call me Aiko-chan."

"Yoshi Tsubasa. I don't mind if you call me Yoshi-san." Naruto told her, getting a side glare from the Uchiha beside him. "If you're going to keep sneaking glances at me like that, you might as well tell me your name."

Naruto laughed at the blush that spread over most of the girls faces that had heard him, and got a full on glare from the Uchiha. The boy was about ready to give Naruto what-for when Iruka told them that they would be staying in during the break. Sasuke grumbling about it, seeing as how he had wanted to go train for a bit.

{During Break.}

Iruka looked at both Yoshi and Sasuke. Instantly taking in what he thought was going to be a rivalry in the near future. "Have I made myself clear?"

Both boys nodded at ran out the door as soon as they were released. Out in the courtyard, Sasuke challenged Naruto to a battle.

"You aren't scared are you, Yoshi?" Sasuke taunted. Watching as Naruto just stood there completely ignoring him, and looking over at Aiko.

"Hey, pay attention!" Sasuke threw a punch at Naruto, only to miss entirely, as Naruto sidestepped it.

"How weak." Naruto muttered grabbing Sasuke's shoulder. "At least have the strength to back up your battles."

Naruto walked away from everyone then, sitting under a tree, and listening to Kurama talk. Only paying attention again when they were being called back into the classroom.

Naruto listened intently throughout the lesson, having been moved away from Sasuke, and next to Shikamaru. Naruto smiled happily at the little side comments that Kurama made about Sasuke. Kurama, why is this so boring?

All things like this are. I much prefer the hands-on learning approach.

Naruto had prefered that way too. He looked up to notice that Iruka was looking at him, so he raised an eyebrow.

"Alright Yoshi, would you be so kind as to show us the Bushin no Jutsu." Iruka gestured for Naruto to move to the front of the class. Just as Naruto was about to preform the jutsu, Kurama had taken control of his body, forcing him to do something entirely different than what he had intended for.

"I would like to spar against Sasuke-san instead." Kurama said, sending slight shivers down the spines. Since they hadn't heard this voice before and knowing that it didn't belong to the boy. Aiko on the other hand was shocked. Even though she was told that she only had Kurama's chakra contained within her, sometimes, even though she couldn't explain it, she had heard the voice that was speaking now.

Sasuke glared at the voice inhabiting Naruto's body. "I agree."

Iruka looked between the two, sighing as he knew that there was going to be no way around this. "Alright Sasuke and Naruto, you may spar. Class please follow me."

After having reached the ring, Iruka told them that they were able to use ninjutsu as well as taijutsu, and that if either was pushed out, or took a step outside the ring, they would lose. After hearing and consenting the two took to either side of the small ring, but not before Kurama made it slightly bigger. "Are you ready Sasuke-san?"

Kurama shot forward before stopping suddenly. This confused everyone there. "Can I call the match?"

"Do you not have the strength to back up your battles?" Sasuke threw Naruto's back at him.

"Of course I do, but this wasn't entirely the way I wanted to go." Naruto explained, looking at Iruka to see if he could.

What are you doing Kid! I was about to destroy him!

And that is exactly why I couldn't allow you to go through with this. Naruto looked away from everyone then.

Sasuke charged Naruto, getting bored of waiting. Naruto not even looking was able to block or dodge whatever Sasuke threw at him. "At least wait until I'm ready!" Naruto complained.

When Sasuke started forming the hand seals for Katon: Uchiha Daiendan Naruto quickly began performing the hand seals for Suiton: Suiryudan no Jutsu. Iruka saw what was going to happen, also telling his other students to scatter.

When the two jutsus collided just as the resulting steam was about to spread, a wall of wood surrounded them. The steam only having one way to go, blocked everyone's view on the inside. None of them having noticed that having the steam rising in the air was the cause of great concern for a lot of villagers. Even the Hokage was going to investigate what was going on.

{Minato.}

Minato stood at the base of the wooden wall, just outside his office. He could feel two chakra signatures inside of the wall, both powerful, and both very familiar. He was very surprised when he saw Aiko standing not to far away from him.

"Tou-san!" Aiko squealed as she saw her father. "The new student, just challenged Sasuke-san. They're inside the wall now."

"How did the wall get there Aiko-chan?" Minato asked, focusing his attention on his daughter.

"I don't know, Tou-san. One moment, Sasuke-san used his Katon: Uchiha Daiendan and then Yoshi-san countered with Suiton: Suiryudan no Jutsu. Iruka-sensei told us to scatter and just as the jutsus collided, the wall appeared." Aiko excitedly looked as the wall was slowly being pushed back into the earth.

They all saw as Naruto was on the ground, before standing up and moving towards the Uchiha. "Are you alright Sasuke-san?" Naruto asked, not entirely sure of what had just occurred. Once he got a nod from Sasuke, he turned towards everyone else, that had now gathered around the wall. "Is everyone alright?"

He looked at them all, nodding to himself that everyone was alright. When his eyes caught hold of Minato however, he was shocked. Kurama, knowing that there wasn't going to be a better chance at the moment, took the control from Naruto. "Hokage-sama. It's been a long time hasn't it."

Minato paled at the voice. "Please follow me."

Kurama did just that, following him until they had reached the Hokage's office. He stared Minato, while keeping Naruto subdued. "You know what you did to the boy don't you?"

Minato just stared at him. "Release my son."

"Such a shame that he was such a bright boy too. That was, until he wanted to catch up to his sister." Kurama continued as though he hadn't heard.

"What do you want?" Minato finally asking something that Kurama wanted to take notice of.

"I want my chakra back. Summon your daughter, and we'll have no trouble."

Minato could only shake his head, not wanting to have lost another child.

"Well Hokage-sama, I do hope that we will meet again." Kurama took off out the window and back to Naruto's classroom in the academy. Where he relinquished his control. Naruto unsure yet again of what had just happened, decided to avoid any questions asked, or the glances that were shot at him. He kept his head down, and continued to listen and jot down what Iruka was telling them.

{Home Time.}

Naruto watched as Minato and a heavily pregnant Kushina came to pick Aiko up.

"Yoshi-san!" She raced over to his side as she called out. "Your parents won't mind if you stay for tea will they?"

Go Kid. It'll do you good. Kurama encouraged him. Naruto though reluctant still agreed to go with them.

"Tou-san, Kaa-chan, this is Yoshi Tsubasa. He just transferred into my class today." Aiko explained, excitement evident in her voice. "Yoshi-san, these are my parents, Kushina Uzumaki, and Minato Namikaze."

"Hokage-sama, it is a pleasure to meet you. As well as you Kushina-san." Naruto bowed, looking back up at Minato when he heard a gasp. "Are you alright Hokage-sama?"

"I will be." Minato looked over his son, while taking taking in his wife's expressions. She looked as though she was about to faint. "Are you staying for tea Yoshi-san?"

Naruto nodded before continuing on with them.

{Namikaze-Uzumaki Household.}

Naruto looked around in wonder at his old home. Nothing had changed from how he remembered it. Naruto went out to the back with Aiko and a little boy who had also tagged along with them. "Yoshi-san, this is my Otouto, Satoru Uzumaki-Namikaze. Otouto this is Yoshi Tsubasa."

"Are you going to be joining us Satoru-san?" Naruto asked, taking in his yellow hair like his own and his father's. His eyes were exactly like their mother's though, otherwise he would have been an almost duplicate of Naruto.

Satoru nodded vigorously while Aiko facepalmed and hit Naruto on the shoulder. Aiko cast a strange glance at Naruto before reaching out and pushing on his biceps. "Geez Yoshi-san! You're built like that of Guy-sensei!"

Satoru, not able to help himself, started doing the same as his sister. He realized that Naruto would be strong enough to give him a piggyback, and so he ended up outside with them.

They spent their time running around and Naruto getting to know his siblings more. Of course he would stop at times while Kurama was trying to break free again, only to be stopped by Naruto's force of will. Nice try Kurama, but after having taken control twice already today, I don't think a third would be wise.

"Hey Yoshi-san, stop staring into space. Dinner is ready!" Aiko yelled while trotting over to him to drag him inside.

"Come on, stop pulling me!" Naruto whined, tugging at his sister's arm playfully, not wanting to hurt her in the slightest. Finally when she did let go, he breathed a sigh of relief, before taking a seat at the table. Two more kids came down the stairs, both staring at the younger version of their father.

"Tou-san you better not be playing tricks on us again!" The younger female growled. She was practically the female version of him, only her hair was streaked with red and orange, and her eyes were like their mothers. Unlike the girl who stood next to her, who seemed more quiet than her outgoing counterpart. Her hair was red, with yellow and orange glints showing when she moved her head. She had their father's eyes.

Minato walked through the door and replied to his daughter. "But I'm not Umeko-chan. Why don't you and Naoko-chan take a seat."

It was then that Naruto realized that he was sitting in his old chair. He looked around the table with Kurama muttering about things that he would rather not have thought about.

"Anyway, Ume-chan, Nao-chan. This is Yoshi Tsubasa. Yoshi-san these are Umeko and Naoko Uzumaki-Namikaze. Ume-chan is the loud one sitting next to Otouto. And Nao-chan is generally very quietly and likes to sit close to Kaa-chan." Aiko introduces him again.

"I'm starting to think it would have been better for you to have just waited until now to introduce me to your family, Aiko-chan." Naruto sighed as he looked at all his younger siblings with yet another on the way. Another sibling that he wouldn't get to know. He smiled sadly at Satoru, already having taken a liking to him, but knowing that he was going to try and avoid coming here again.

"So Yoshi-san, why is this the first time we're meeting you?" Umeko stared at him, making him slightly uncomfortable.

"Since I've only just transferred into the academy today. Aiko-chan was kind enough to ask me over for dinner tonight." Naruto responded before looking at his younger siblings again.

Kushina and Minato chose then to walk out carrying dinner. Minato was carrying out the four plates for the kids, while Kushina had her's and Minato's dinner. "I hope you don't mind that we're having ramen tonight."

Naruto shook his head before muttering itadakimasu under his breath and digging into the deliciousness that was ramen. "This is great Kushina-san, Hokage-sama."

Naruto smiled as he finished off his plate in record time, shocking everyone at the table.

"That is quite alright Yoshi-san. I hope that you will be coming over more often." Kushina said, before taking in her son's sad look. "What's wrong Yoshi-san?"

"Nothing Kushina-san." Naruto took his plate into the little kitchen, before washing it and putting it back into the cupboard. He walked back to the table before bowing and apologizing about having to leave part the way through dinner. But he couldn't really stand being in the family atmosphere.

"Sorry to say that my parents may be worrying about where I am at the moment. Thank-you again for providing me with such delicious tasting ramen." Naruto not waiting for a reply took off away from the house, leaving behind a stunned family.

Naruto gave control to Kurama once he had reached his secluded home. Kurama more than happy at the opportunity, immediately set about rearranging the grounds with the force of training that he was putting Naruto's body through.

Just don't do too much damage this time, Kurama. I don't want my body battered like the last time you 'forgot' to heal it.

Don't worry Kid. Your body is going to fine tomorrow for the academy. Kurama set in place the time manipulation jutsu, knowing that he could do a lot more for the boy this way. Not far from his mind though, was the thought of finally being able to take complete control of Naruto's body.

{At Some Random Point During The Time Manipulation.}

"Hey! Yoshi-san! What happened to everything?" Kurama and Naruto were both startled when Satoru walked out from behind a tree.

Kurama chose to stay silent through the exchange that was about to happen, and threw Naruto in the deep end.

"Ummmm... This is a jutsu that my parents taught me." Naruto looked over his little brother. "What are you doing here though Satoru-san? How did you manage to come into the jutsu with me?"

Satoru looked at Naruto with wide eyes. "I don't know. But I want to go back to normal."

Naruto walked over to him and gently placed a hand on the young boy's shoulder. Silently he asked Kurama to reverse the jutsu. "Since it's getting pretty late, I'll take you back home in the morning, but for now, you can stay in my house. Would that be alright?"

Satoru nodded, taking Naruto's hand. "Is it that little house hidden in the trees?"

Naruto smiled, opting to pick his younger brother up, and carry him, as he noticed that he was looking rather tired. "Don't worry, nothing bad is going to happen while you stay there okay?"

Satoru fell asleep, his head resting on Naruto's shoulder.

Well that answers that, doesn't it Kurama? Now would you please work on getting my body healed. I'm not sure how long my body is going to last.

Was already on it Kid. Don't need your orders to know it would be bad to drop that kid you're holding.

Thanks Kurama.

Yeah, just make it to the house.

* * *

Now I think I know what you're thinking, how was Naruto's younger brother able to slip in the jutsu with him, well, I don't entirely know yet either. Anywho I had thought that it would be interesting for one of Naruto's siblings had entered the jutsu with him, and this is how it turned out.

I'm not quite happy with how this chapter and the next one turn out, so later on I'm probably going to rewrite them so until then….

Bushin no Jutsu = clone jutsu  
Katon: Uchiha Daiendan = fire release: Uchiha great flame sphere  
Suiton: Suiryudan no Jutsu = water release: water bullet


	4. Chapter 4

Thanks to guys for pointing out the clone thing, I got to use to hearing shadow clone jutsu in the anime from Naruto… but I've gone back and changed it.  
Umeko and Naoko are younger than Naruto, and honestly they don't play a big part in this, yet…

Sorry about the wait as well, I was trying to make this chapter better. That and I needed time to stress over how to write another chapter.

Also I will hopefully come up with a way to explain how Satoru managed to end up in the time manipulation.

On another side note, there will be a few time jumps in this before the graduation part of this, just so it doesn't seem to rushed.

* * *

Speech thingys.

"Normal"

Normal Thought

Kurama

Jutsu

Thought to add the time brackets thing in here to -  
{Flashback / Different Places / Different People.}

* * *

{At the Namikaze-Uzumaki Household. With Minato and Kushina.}

Kushina and Minato were looking around worriedly, hoping to find a trace of their missing son. Minato sat holding Kushina in his arms, trying to calm her down. "He will come back. Our son will come back home."

"What happens if he runs away like Naruto-san did!" Kushina cried into Minato's shirt.

"He won't let that happen." Minato whispered, holding his wife closer to him. Kushina giving him a curious look. "Yoshi-san is our son."

"But…" Kushina looked hopefully into Minato's eyes. "How do you know?"

"Because he has Kurama sealed inside him." MInato took in Kushina's expression. "Before you ask, I was at the academy today. He fought against Sasuke Uchiha. From what Aiko-chan tells me, Yoshi-san countered his clan jutsu with a suiton jutsu, and yet before anyone could get hurt by the steam, a mokuton jutsu was used." Minato took a deep breath, slightly afraid of how his wife was going to act. "When the wall had disappeared, Kurama was speaking through our son's body. It was horrible, Kurama had complete control over our son."

After her tears had fallen, Minato could feel the anger that was starting to build up. "Then it was Kurama all throughout dinner?"

Minato shivered at the thought of what Kushina would do. "No. It wasn't. Our son was back in control then."

"What?" Kushina lept away, storming around the room, words starting to fly from her mouth at a thousand miles a minute. "Could they have…. No our son wouldn't…. And Kurama just isn't the type… What if he managed… Minato do you think it's possible?"

Minato took his time answering. "Maybe he was able to create a contract with Kurama. Then the question would be, why would Kurama want us to think that he had complete control over our son's body, and that he was gone?"

Kushina shook her head vigorously, not even letting Minato's words be comprehended. "We'll bring them both back."

{In Aiko's Room.}

Umeko and Naoko sat on Aiko's bed, waiting for their older sister to talk. Aiko had spread herself over the floor. "Is this about nii-san who you're always thinking about?"  
Aiko frowned slightly, the guilt that had started eating away at her now felt like it was consuming her. "It's kinda funny. The resemblance that Yoshi-san has to him."

Umeko rolled her eyes, have heard too many times before that had it not been for their nee-chan, he might still be with them. "What happens if he's… you know…"  
"No! He wouldn't have!" Aiko looked up at Umeko with an appalled expression. "He can't have died! Because then…"  
Aiko had started to cry, and Naoko moved to lay to the side of her, pulling her into a hug. "It's okay. We know why."  
Umeko had just moved to the side of her sisters. Naoko had a better sense for their nee-chan, and usually had her stop crying within minutes, whereas Umeko just couldn't seem to say the right things.  
"And Otouto…" Aiko sobbed into Naoko's shirt. "What if him leaving is also because the same thing has happened to nii-san... "  
"It wouldn't be the same reason." Naoko whispered, looking at Umeko to say something.  
"Yeah… cause you never tried to leave us out of anything. So we were always included." Umeko looked at Naoko, the small smile on her face showing that she had said something right.  
Umeko and Naoko watched as Aiko cried in her sleep.  
"You know, one of these days, we should be the ones sitting on the floor. Then we wouldn't have to try and lift her on the bed." Naoko smiled slightly at that, thinking that it was something they should have started doing years beforehand.

{Naruto's Secluded House.}

Naruto had decided to sleep curled around his younger brother last night when he wouldn't let go of him. Yet sometime during the night, Satoru had ended up sprawled over the bed and Naruto had been pushed into a little corner of it.

Kid, you had better get up and get him something to eat, and if you're not careful, ANBU are going to find you soon.

That's a real nice way to wake up Kurama. Next to the brother I barely know, with ANBU trying to find him. Kushina-san must be pretty worried.

Don't beat yourself up Kid. It wasn't your fault.

How do you know Kurama? Naruto let a tear slip over his cheek. He nearly jumped when he felt a little hand wiping his tear away.

"Don't cry Aniki." Satoru gave Naruto a serious look. "You act like my older brother, even if your not related to me."

Naruto smiled at that. "What if I was related to you Sato-san?"

He gave Naruto a big grin, one that Naruto was going to split his face. "Then I would be very happy. I wouldn't only have Nee-chans."

Naruto had realized earlier on that Satoru was smart for his age and could put two and two together. As he watched, Naruto saw it like a switch had flipped.

"Why don't you live with us? Kaa-chan and Tou-san have this room that they say belongs to you. They won't let us in there though. And Aiko-nee, she looks sad every time she passes the door." Satoru managed to say very quickly in one breath.

"You have to promise not to tell them about where I live, okay Sato-san?"

Satoru nodded, holding up his pinkie, in which Naruto himself wrapped his own pinkie around. "Now Sato-san, can you hide your chakra?"

Satoru nodded eagerly, ready to show his brother that he could work just as hard as the rest of his family.

Naruto smiled when he couldn't feel his brother's chakra anymore. "Good, now I need you to keep doing that, until we are away from here, okay?"

Satoru nodded, but keep his face scrunched up in concentration. Naruto picked his brother up and led him home, making sure that the ANBU wouldn't be able to sense him, even when he told Satoru that he could relax, now that they were far enough away from his little hide-away.

"Now Sato-san, when you come back over to my house, you'll need to mask your chakra like we did today. No one needs to know where I live apart from you." Naruto told his little brother once they had reached town. "Now before I go to the academy, I'll drop you back home. Or would you rather come with me and surprise Aiko-chan?"

Satoru had a big grin on his face as he jumped onto Naruto's back, and told him to head to the academy.

{At the Academy.}

Moments after arriving in his classroom, Naruto noticed that he was the first person to have arrived. He smirked at his younger brother, before leading him over to his seat. "So how smart are you Otouto?"

"Kaa-chan and Tou-san say that I'm pretty smart, but some of the time I don't believe them."

"Okay. For the moment I need you to pretend to be me, and whoever talks to you, don't say a thing back. Just wait for Aiko-chan to come in."

"Do I get to leap on her?"

Naruto just shrugged. "If you want. I'm going to be at her desk in a moment okay."

Naruto used shunshin to appear at the gate before transforming into his sister and walking through into his classroom, and taking the seat that Aiko would be sitting in. What neither countered for though was Minato walking through the door with Aiko when she entered the classroom. Before Naruto could tell Satoru to stop, he saw his little brother leaping at their sister, and Minato tensing at the impending attack on his daughter. Everyone was in the classroom by this point, and so before any of them could see, Naruto had caught Satoru and was shielding him from the attack that was originally going to be meant for him. Naruto taking the full brunt of the attack fell to the floor, holding Satoru close to him. Minato looked on horrified at having protected his daughter at the expense of hurting his eldest son, rather than his youngest son.

Satoru was starting to get teary. "You can't die!"

Naruto reached a finger up to his face, "hey, don't cry. Remember?"

Satoru nodded as Naruto wiped away his tears.

Anytime now Kurama.

Shut up Kid, Minato is stronger than you seem to give him credit for.

Would it help if you were to take control?

No, it's better for me just to focus on healing you at the moment. But you had better tell them not to move you.

Naruto noticed that medics had come to put him and Satoru on the stretcher. "Don't move my body."

"But we need to take you to the hospital-" one of the medics tried to say.

"No, don't move my body." Naruto repeated. "I've already moved as much as I'm allowed."

Kurama, I'm giving you control. Just don't speak unless you absolutely have to.

Damn it Kid, I didn't want control just yet. Although having control of Naruto's body was good, also meaning that it would respond better to him while healing him. Kurama noticed the medics moving forwards again.

"You were told to BACK OFF!" Kurama yelled, also scaring the kid in his arms as well.

Comfort him!

I don't know how! I don't even know why you listened to me.

Because you can be pretty good with kids. Just let him know that you don't mean him any harm.

You do it!

You're still healing the body!

So it's not even yours anymore? Just a body?

I suppose. Just hurry up and do it!

Kurama didn't really know what he was going to do. "Hey Kid-"

Use Sato-san.

"-Sato-san, everything is going to be fine." Unsure of what to do next, Kurama squeezed Satoru gently. Satoru relaxed again.

"Did Aniki tell you to say that?" Satoru asked.

"You're pretty sharp Kid. You have to sneak over more often." Kurama whispered the last part so that only Satoru could hear. "Now, make sure not to move too much, until I tell you."

Kurama spent the next few minutes in Naruto's body, healing what had been damaged, before putting Naruto back incontrol.

"Hey, you can move now if you want." Naruto whispered.

Satoru shook his head, burying it into Naruto's chest. "Never going to let you go again."

"Well, I need to head over to my seat, want to join me?"

Satoru didn't let go, and mumbled a yes. Using shunshin again, Naruto appeared back in his chair, with Satoru clinging to him like a monkey.

Aiko screamed at the idioticness of the two boys. Minato on the other hand was looking extremely guilty for not having discerned that it was his own sons' and not an enemy.

He moved over to Naruto and looked him over, as well as his youngest. "Come on Satoru-san, we had better let Yoshi-san do what he needs to."

Satoru shook his head, gripping onto Naruto tighter. "I'm not leaving Aniki."

"It's okay Hokage-sama, I don't mind if he stays. I'll make sure to take him back home tonight." Naruto watched as Minato reluctantly agreed before leaving the room. Aiko though was standing over the both of them.

"You idiots! You could have been hurt Otouto!" Aiko sounded as though she was worried but was trying to cover it.

"Back off Aiko-chan." Naruto stood and matched her height, and once again, she was reminded of her brother that had disappeared. It was then that her mind comprehended that Satoru was clinging to Naruto, and he didn't cling to anyone. And the way that he was acting just before. "Were you with him last night? While Kaa-chan and Tou-san were both worried that you had run off like…." She couldn't finish as she looked back at Naruto.

"Don't worry, I wouldn't let anything harm him." Naruto took his seat, before Aiko finally decided to take hers.

"Just remember what I said Sato-san."

{At Naruto's Home.}

Naruto had let Kurama take over once again. It had become easier and easier to let him take control. At first, Kurama would be taking it by force, now Naruto just let him have it.

"You know Kurama, you could easily destroy the village now."

I could have Kid, but you knew all along that it wasn't going to happen. Sometimes I wonder if I had would you have ever wanted to have come back to the world that this would be.

"Thanks Kurama." Naruto looked over the waterfall. "Am I supposed to let them into my life?"

That's up to you Kid. Always has been.

Naruto sat there for a few more hours, thinking about what was currently going on in his life.

"Do you want to train for a bit? I need a break."

Kurama agreed and put in place the time manipulation jutsu. He worked on expanding Naruto's sensor abilities, which they had discovered the year after he had left home. Now to his amazement he could sense just over a four mile radius around Konoha, when he focused he could sense nearly a eight mile radius out. To help Naruto expand this, Kurama would suppress Naruto and get him to sense things around them to the other side of the village, each time Naruto would be suppressed a little more, until he was hardly able to do anything other than just exist. When Naruto was training without Kurama's help, he would sit at the top of the waterfall and push his ability out as far as his could, before trying to push it further. He would keep at it for days in the time manipulation.

While Kurama was working on Naruto's sensor abilities, Naruto himself was allowing his mind to go blank, entirely at home in the darkness that surrounded him. Naruto just content to stay there, allowed Kurama to have control of his body until he was forcibly thrown back into consciousness.

I released the jutsu Kid, and you're brother is on his way. Any minute now he should appear in the barrier.

Just as Kurama had said, Satoru had come into view within the minute.

There are no ANBU following him either, you're still safe.

There is another chakra signature following behind him though.

It is just my chakra container.

She doesn't need to know where I live. Do something to stop her. Naruto heard Kurama laugh through his head, before a clone appeared beside him and took off towards where his sister was. Naruto on the other hand was waiting for Satoru to reach him. "Shall we go inside Sato-san."

Satoru jumped onto his brother's back and they disappeared into the tree line. Once they reached the house, Satoru didn't let go of Naruto.

"Hey nii-chan? Why didn't you start at the academy under your real name?"

"Because my little Otouto, that would have caused problems for everyone." Naruto explained.

"But they should know who you really are."

"Okay, when the class graduates, you can introduce me as your long lost older brother. How does that sound to you?"

Satoru nodded, happy that he would be able to take part in revealing his nii-san.

{A Month Later.}

Naruto smirked as Satoru tried to catch him. "Come on Otouto, you'll need to be faster than that if you want to catch me."  
Naruto watched as Satoru started to lose his patient. "If you would stay still then I would be able to catch you!"

Satoru stumbled towards Naruto after another five minutes of running around the clearing. "Nii-chan! Need a… break!" Satoru tripped over his own legs, but was caught before he hit the ground.

"You need to get back before they start sending people out looking."

"You could always… come back and stay… Kaa-chan and Tou-san want… to have you there again." Satoru panted trying to catch his breath.  
Naruto's emotions started to shut down. "They don't need me there."  
"But, they want you to-"  
"Enough!" Naruto harshly cut Satoru off, catching a glimpse of the teary eyed little boy. "Sorry…"  
Naruto stayed silent for their journey home. A few moments before they reached the front door, Naruto murmured to Satoru. "You should stay here for the next couple of nights."

Naruto sat on top of his waterfall, trying to bring his raging emotions back under control.  
Careful Kid. It's this kind of unbalanced control that is going to kill you. Even though he knew that Kurama was trying to be helpful by telling him this, it wasn't actually doing anything good. If anything, his control seemed to get swept away with the emotional tide.  
"Kurama!" Naruto's scream echoed around the clearing, his chakra starting to go wild, following the emotions that he kept bottled up around everyone. The people in the academy, his brother, but the most important person was himself.  
From the force of his chakra, the earth around him started cracking, and dark clouds blocked out the moon and stars. All over the village it sounded as though a demon was in agony, the severe winds howling, rain starting to batter against every house, roof or window. Naruto screamed again and again, his throat raw from the constant strain.  
ENOUGH! Kurama forcibly took control, trying to keep Naruto suppressed with all the force that letting his emotions out was slippery though. Kurama watched the boy in his mind scape finally tire himself out. Kurama moved inside the home, wrapping Naruto's body in layer upon layer of blankets, and any other thing that would keep his body dry and warm through the night.

{At the Namikaze Household.}

Satoru sat looking out of the lounge window, amazed at how sudden the storm was. Especially since the night sky was clear when he was walking back with his Nii-chan. He watched as the water seemed never ending. "Tou-san? Kaa-chan?" Satoru called out, still facing the window, but listening for their footsteps.  
"Yes Sato-san?" Kushina asked as she walked to his side with Minato.  
"What happened to Naruto-nii?" Satoru turned to face his parents slowly, watching how they reacted to the question. Surprise was the first expression that showed, quickly followed by guilt. He also took note of how both his parents moved closer to the other, before sitting down next to him.  
Kushina pulled Satoru into her lap as Minato began to speak. "Naruto-san… left home a little over five years ago now." Kushina's eyes started to well up, and her tears began to silently fall. "All we really know is that he is still alive and is doing alright."  
"Why did he leave?"  
Kushina wasn't crying so silently anymore, and Minato moved an arm around her and looked down at his son. "We can't say…"  
Satoru could tell that they knew, and he wanted to go off at them for not treating his Nii-chan better than that. But then he had also figured that he had needed to hear the story from his parents, as Naruto had always gone quiet when he tried to breach the subject with him. There was only one time that Naruto had slipped up about talking about, murmuring something about not being remembered, but that was all when Satoru tried to get him to continue. After that day they steered clear of the topic that brought so much interest to Satoru. "So how did you remember him?"  
Minato stood up, walking up the stairs to his room, before coming back down with a photo in his hand. "You, Ume-chan and Nao-chan found it not long after you had turned one. It was tucked away, but we were never told where you found it."  
MInato had sat back down, holding the picture of a young Naruto so that Satoru could see. In the photo Naruto looked to be about five. The smile on his face looked fake to Satoru, it didn't reach the five year old Naruto's eyes. He was much paler than he was now, making Satoru wonder just how much of a recluse his brother was before he had started his training with Kurama.

{A Month and a Bit Before Graduating Day.}

Satoru sat at Ichiraku's waiting for when Naruto would arrive. Today they were just going to walk around the town, Naruto getting some of the food he was going to need to cook Satoru dinner that night. Once Naruto had reached there, Satoru immediately wrapped his little arms around his Aniki's neck, while having jumped on his back. "You're early today, Sato-san." Naruto looked over at Teuchi, asking how long Satoru had been here for, all the while paying for his little brother's food.  
"Just a little over an hour now." Teuchi replied, watching with warm eyes at the two boys.  
"What happened? Your Nee-chans' didn't do anything did they?" Naruto asked angling his head to see Satoru out of the corner of his eye.  
"No…" Satoru whispered. "I got angry at Tou-san and Kaa-chan."  
"And what did they do?" Satoru winced a little at the darker tone that Naruto's voice had taken.  
"They made me angry about how they treated you." Satoru hid his face in Naruto's back, while Naruto had stopped. A little up ahead, he had spotted Minato, along with their siblings. Minato looked distressed, searching for someone. Aiko, Umeko and Naoko were looking too, but not as much as their father. As they got closer to Naruto, he started listening to what they were saying.  
"I swear he'll be fine, Tou-san." Aiko told her father fiercely.  
"He's probably with Yoshi-san." Well Umeko wasn't wrong. "It's the only thing he seems interested in now."  
Naruto moved away from them, heading to the few shops that he would need to go to, but making it obvious to the frantically searching person that he had his brother with him. But disappeared as soon as he had felt that he was seen. "I know that you're staying with me tonight, but first thing tomorrow. You can go sort things out with them."  
Satoru nodded against Naruto's back, figuring that there was no way that Naruto was going to let him not go back home.

{The Next Morning.}

Naruto had woken up earlier this morning than he had in a while. He went for a run to kill a little time before going back to make Satoru's breakfast. About halfway through making it, Satoru walked to his Aniki's side, a yawn escaping him while he rubbed his eyes. "Otouto, you know what you're going to do today."  
"I didn't want to be reminded." Satoru pouted, turning away from Naruto as he walked towards the door leading to the bathroom.  
"I'm taking you back after breakfast." Naruto called out, earning a groan from the hallway as Satoru reappeared.  
"What if I don't want to go back?"  
"You're going back."  
Satoru huffed, knowing that he was getting nowhere fast. "I just want to stay here with you!"  
"You are going back." Naruto placed Satoru's breakfast down in front of him. "No more arguments."

Satoru grumbled all the way back to the Namikaze household. Naruto dropped him off before disappearing. Satoru watched as Kushina slowly opened the door, and the next thing that he knew, he was wrapped in her arms with Minato moving outside as well. Tears were streaming down Kushina's face and Minato was relieved that his son had come home.  
"Please don't run out again." Kushina sobbed, tugging Satoru closer to her. Minato held his son and wife as the rest of the family came outside. Aiko was angry at Satoru and made a show of it. Umeko and Naoko were also relieved, having seen how their parents were acting, and at knowing that another sibling had not run away.

Naruto watch this hidden in a tree, wondering why he couldn't have been treated the same as his siblings. Before he could start dwelling on it too much he left, leaving behind the heart-warming family behind them.

{Graduating Day.}

Naruto stood to the side with Satoru, knowing that his 'family' wouldn't be coming as he could already see that they were here. He saw his two youngest sisters, his new baby brother in the arms of Kushina and Minato surrounding Aiko, they looked worried when they saw that Satoru had gone missing and were starting to frantically search for him. When they saw 'Yoshi' without him, they were just about ready to start searching for him. Naoko pointed out that he was up where Minato had only stood moments before.

"Can I have your attention?" Satoru asked, waiting for everyone one to look at him. "I would like to introduce you all to my Aniki."

Naruto watched as glances of confusion went around the crowd. Some of his classmates actually looking at him.

"My Aniki was keeping hidden while going to the academy. He used the name Yoshi Tsubasa, and I really hope that he will continue to use Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze from now on." Satoru spoke, hoping down and running back over to Naruto.

Naruto had his arms open and a grin on his face, happy that Satoru had done so well. "You must have really wanted to tell them."

Satoru grinned, jumping into his arms. "Of course I want everyone to know who my Aniki is. Now go to Kaa-chan and Tou-san-"

Satoru let out a scream in the next minute, having Naruto's bleeding body just hovering over him. Tears starting to stream down his face.

"Don't worry-" Naruto turned his head to the side and coughed up some blood. "Everything is going to be fine. All that matters is that you're going to be safe."

Satoru still couldn't stop crying though.

"No tears okay? You're-" Turning his head again to cough up some more blood, Naruto had a slight smile on his face. "Going to be just fine. And I have a guardian angel."

Naruto allowed Kurama to take over then and take out any threat that was posed to his brother. Hiding in the shadows were Iwa nin, which Kurama dealt to quickly.

"Hey Kid, they're all taken care of now." Kurama told Naruto, who wasn't responding to him. "Kid, now is not the time to be playing games! You've gotten your family all worried!"

Minato and his sisters had started to creep closer to them. Kushina with her youngest two, making sure that Satoru was alright.

{With Naruto.}

Naruto knew that his family would be safe with Kurama taking control, sinking further into the darkness than he had before. He couldn't hear Kurama calling to him anymore. He could only feel happiness.

{With Kurama.}

"Hurry up Kid!" Kurama yelled at the top of Naruto's lungs, which happened to have been extended quite a lot over the last five years, his voice now echoing around the village. Quickly turning towards Satoru, Kurama grabbed him by the shoulders. "Alright, it's up to you Kit."

Kurama pulled Satoru into Naruto's mind. "You've got to find him Kit, but be careful. His mind is very fragile and starting to break, you're the only one who can find him at the moment."

{With Minato and Family.}

Minato took hold of both his sons bodies before using Hiraishin to transport them to the hospital. He told the staff to keep them together, before disappearing and reappearing with the rest of his family. Kushina and Aiko look extremely worried about the two, and Minato took his youngest son, Tsuda, from Kushina and told her that she would have to wait while he went to sort out their sons. Kushina wasn't happy, going into one of her famous rages. Minato created two Kage Bushin handing little Tsuda to one, while the other went to calm down his wife, and the original went down to check on the states of Satoru and Naruto.

{Naruto's Mindscape.}

Satoru walked around Naruto's fragile mind. Kurama in the smallest form he could manage, sat on Satoru's shoulder, helping to guide him away from the various cracks and splinters. Satoru kept his steps light, almost as though he was walking on glass. He could see that once his brothers mind would have been a beautiful place to have been. Mountains and rivers, forests and lakes. Now it looked as though it was a broken picture. Some of the mountains were crumbling, some had already crumbled. Some even had slips running down the side. Areas of the ground had either raised like in an earthquake, or had started to cave in.

"How long has nii-san's mind been like this?" Satoru asked the little Kurama.

"Since before he found out about you." Kurama started. "At first the only thing that was keeping this place together and stopping it from rapidly deteriorating was the thought of being able to catch up to my chakra container. I knew long before he went to the academy that he had already surpassed her. I couldn't tell him in case his mind entire deteriorated, but then he met you and the other of his younger siblings'. You changed his focus after he had realized that he was already far beyond Aiko Uzumaki-Namikaze. He had to keep you safe until he couldn't anymore.

"You see over there? Where there is darkness is encroaching? That came before the rest. That has been slowly getting closer and closer to main lake you see over there." Kurama pointed with a paw as he explained all this to Satoru.

"But Aniki was always fine when I saw him. Why is it only showing now?"

Kurama took in the fear that boy had in his voice. "Because he has been pulled into that darkness. This use to be such a wide terrain. There were oceans and other lands, and what you see now is all that is left. The core of who he is, and that darkness has been slowly eating away at him. All those years spent in the time manipulation have caused this to happen."

"How many years did you spend in the jutsu at a time?"

"One year to one day. It's been five years since we started using the jutsu, and nearly two thousand years in which we have been training. I believe had it been anyone else, with the exception of you, their minds would have been long gone before this point."

Satoru walked closer towards the darkness. "Is Aniki in there?"

Kurama stayed silent, knowing that the kid would be smart enough to figure it out. They continued on, Satoru feeling the support of Kurama on his shoulder.

* * *

Hoping that some things have been cleared up…  
and like I've said in the previous chapter, I'm probably going to rewrite this chapter, or most of it later…

suiton = water release

mokuton = wood release  
shunshin = Body Flicker

Hiraishin = Flying Thunder God

Kage Bushin = shadow clone


	5. Chapter 5

Sorry to say I'll probably be updating in two week intervals, cause I'm starting to fall behind in my school work and we have exams coming up soon. There will be a time soon where I will need a longer break than that… But I've also found that with two week intervals it gives more people time to review so that I know what to add into the next chapters, so yeah… two week intervals…

Minato and Kushina have six kids - Naruto, Aiko, Umeko, Naoko, Satoru and Tsuda. And Naruto left in chapter two when he is about seven. Although he would sneak back into the house to get jutsu scrolls to learn, sorry to confuse anyone.

AND don't say I haven't warned you…. (look at the description after reading the chapter)

* * *

Speech thingys.

"Normal"

 _Normal Thought_

 **Kurama**

 **Jutsu**

Thought to add the time brackets thing in here to -  
 _ **{Flashback / Different Places / Different People.}**_

* * *

 _ **{Hospital. Uzumaki-Namikaze Family.}**_

Minato sat beside Kushina while holding onto Aiko and Umeko, and Kushina held Tsuda and Naoko. Kushina was looking over her children worriedly, sneaking glances at the door. Aiko and Umeko had fallen asleep only minutes ago, seeing as how they had not gone home since the graduation ceremony yesterday, as well as Naoko, who slept with her head on Kushina's lap. Minato was alert, waiting for any news that may come through.

One of the nurses slowly walked towards Minato. "There is good news and bad news Hokage-sama."

"Satoru-san has woken, and is fine. But the other boy you brought in has not yet woken. He is stabilized at the moment, and anything further we will inform you about."

Minato long having jumped from his seat, walked towards the doors that the nurse had walked through. Looking back over his shoulder, he told his family to remain there while he went to check on Satoru.

 _ **{Satoru and Naruto's room.}**_

Minato was fussing over his son. Even though the eldest had looked worse for wear, it was the haunted look that he found in Satoru's eyes that scared him. Minato holding him close, and rocking him like when he was only two. "What happened Satoru-san? When both you and Naruto fainted?"

Satoru looked up into his father's eyes. "His mind is crumbling."

Minato went still for a second, before calling out that he wanted a Yamanaka there now. While they waited Satoru explained more of what he had seen in Naruto's mind. After ten minutes of calling out, Inoichi had walked into Naruto's room.

"You called Hokage-sama?"

"I want you to check my son's mindscape. Please, if Satoru is right, then Naruto is in danger, please help my son."

Inoichi looked shocked that the boy had been the eldest son of the Hokage, seeing as how he had run away years ago, but still went over to the boy to check his mind. Instantaneously he found himself in a world that was crumbling around him. Three mountains stood now, all the others had crumbled. There was so much damage to the ground that only parts of it would have been safe to walk on, and there was also the darkness that was closer than before.

" **You're going to break his mind if you're not careful.** "

Inoichi glanced around and saw a much smaller version of Kurama. He took a step back, but before he could take a step, one of the tails had wrapped around him. Kurama sighed, knowing that he would be carrying the man around.

" **What you see now, is what has happened since I let Satoru Uzumaki-Namikaze out of here. There is only one lake now, but as you have seen, it is dangerous to even try to go looking for it. There used to so much more than what you seen now. And Naruto, he is still stuck. So bring Satoru Uzumaki-Namikaze back over to the body.** "

Inoichi was forcibly shoved out of Naruto's mind by Kurama. Minato held onto Inoichi while he got his balance.

"Hokage-sama, you aren't going to like what is in his mind." Inoichi started to explain what he saw in Naruto's mind, and hearing Satoru move to stand next to his brother. "Kurama wants Satoru to go back and find Naruto."

"What does that mean?" Minato asked, worry filling his features.

"He is in the dark." Satoru murmured. "Aniki went into the dark."

Inoichi and Minato looked at the young boy in surprise.

"I need to go and help him. Kurama took me as far as the edge of the darkness last time, but Aniki is beyond that." Satoru told them, placing his hand on Naruto's forehead. "Kurama, I need you take take me where the lake is."

Minato caught the falling boy and laid him next to Naruto, before sitting next to both of his sons, with his head in his hands.

 _ **{Naruto's Mindscape. With Satoru.}**_

Satoru stood at the edge of the darkness, Kurama telling him that his tail would be wrapped around him while he went in there. That had been a while ago, and Satoru was just wandering around, calling out for his brother and hoping for an answer.

 _ **{With Naruto.}**_

He could hear the worried voice of his brother, sometimes it was close, others it sounded miles away. Eventually, he stopped calling, and Naruto heard the sobs coming from younger boy. He moved towards the boy and wrapped him in his arms.

"Aniki?"

Naruto smiled and followed Kurama's tail that had been wrapped around the boy. "Thank you for coming to find me Otouto. We'll head back now. Kurama is getting worried about you."

Kurama looked relieved at seeing both his charges, well as he saw it. He wrapped most of his tails around Naruto in a relieved hug, and Satoru in one of thank with his remaining tails.

" **Now Kid, you can't do that again. Other than that, you need to strengthen this place.** "

"Kurama…" Naruto smiled at him. "It feels too long to have been here, and you know what is happening to my body."

" **It can be healed! You work on this place and I'll work on the physical!** " Kurama called out, frustration evident in his voice.

"But you already know that this is a representation of what is happening to my body. So what you're going to-"

Naruto was cut off by Kurama. " _ **Just you watch!**_ "

 _ **{Naruto's Hospital Room.}**_

Every machine that Naruto was connected to started beeping. Nurses rushed into the room, one pushing Minato down to his family. He looked around, taking in that his old sensei had returned. "Jiraiya-sensei! Are you in contact with Tsunade-sama?" Minato looked over his teacher with pleading eyes.

"As a matter of fact, I had her here with me as I entered the village but then she disappeared-"

"We have to find her!" Seeing his student getting worked up so much caused Jiraiya to lose whatever easy going attitude that he still had.

Jiraiya sent out a messenger frog to find Tsunade and tell her she was needed at the hospital per the request of the Hokage. Minutes later Tsunade was walking through the door and walking towards Minato.

"You have to help my sons." Minato begged as soon as he saw her. "Naruto hasn't woken up, and Satoru has been pulled back into his mindscape."

Tsunade looked slightly surprised at that. "What do you mean 'pulled back into his mindscape'?"

She started walking down the hall to where there was a lot of commotion.

Once Tsunade walked into the room, what she saw was the body of a young boy that seemed to be fading rapidly. Also the seal that held Kurama was showing on his body. The body seemed to glow, as Kurama's chakra surrounded it. Tsunade also took note of a younger boy that was identical in appearance, not having seen their eyes, curled up next to the disappearing body. Immediately taking action to heal the boy in critical condition she had many others as well help with preserving the nearly gone body.

 _ **{Naruto's Mindscape.}**_

Naruto watched as his mindscape was starting to slowly rebuild itself. He held Satoru in his arms, before telling him that he was going to have to leave soon. Both boys watched Kurama, the concentration on his face astounding them. Naruto could also sense the outside chakra that were also trying to heal his body, knowing that it would be taking it's toll on Kurama who usually rejected any form of outside help.

" **You had better survive after this Kid. Because of the state you're in, you need all help you can get, and trust me, there are many people who I can't afford to push away at the moment.** " Kurama told him. Naruto nodded, adding whatever chakra that was slowly returning to him to Kurama's.

"Now Sato-san, I think it's time for you to leave here. You can go tell Minato-san and Kushina-san that I'm going to be alright." Naruto pushed Satoru out of his mind, and sat back, watching Kurama's shocked face as he disappeared as well.

Moments later, Naruto sat watching the darkness taking over the little that he had left in his mind. He knew that by sealing Kurama into his little brother wasn't something that should ever have been done. But he knew Kurama would watch over him, knew as he knew that this wasn't the end.

 _ **{With Satoru.}**_

Satoru had bypassed the nurses and ran down to his family. When he threw open the door, he leapt at his father and started crying into his shirt. They were happy tears though, he was so glad that his Aniki was going to be alright. "Tou-san, Aniki will be alright. He said to tell you -"

Tsunade walked through the door, she glanced at the young Satoru who was being held in Minato's arms. She saw the hopeful look on Minato's face, and realized what Satoru had been saying. Not only was the hopeful look on his face but on the faces of the rest of the Uzumaki-Namikaze family.

"Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze-" Tsunade started her voice sounding somber.

"No! Aniki wouldn't lie! He told me he was going to be alright! He told me!" Satoru cried out, feeling more than just his own pain.

 **Kid…**

Satoru bolted across the room, looking for the voice that he had heard so many times from Naruto's body.

"I want to see my Aniki!" Satoru demanded, holding his hands to his hips.

 **You aren't going to be able to see him because-**

"His body has disappeared." Tsunade had finished Kurama's sentence, but even Kurama hadn't expected what she was about to say. "His body disappeared when Satoru-san woke up."

* * *

This has turned really weird. Really really weird. So sorry about that guys. And considering how weird my other chapters have been, can you say you didn't expect something like this to happen. Oh and sorry about it being so short. And I have to admit, this isn't quite finished, even though some people are probably wishing I would go and die right now for all that I've put in here. So yeah. That's about all for now.


	6. Chapter 6

Please, please, please read...

This is to clear some things up before I move onto the next chapter.

Keeping the two last names is because of acknowledging heritage. The other thing about people not having two last names isn't necessarily true cause I know people who have two last names.

What is happening to Naruto's body is because of using the time manipulation jutsu. I explain it in kind of more detail in later chapters but cause I like how for every action there is a reaction other words the consequences of Naruto using time manipulation is catching up with him.

Satoru was pulled into Naruto's mindscape, he didn't enter willingly the first time but if close enough Kurama can pull them into Naruto's mind. I want to keep it so that only the Yamanaka clan can enter into the mind of another person, as that is what their clan specializes in.  
Since Naruto doesn't feel particularly close to anyone but Satoru, only he was going to be pulled into Naruto's mindscape.

Tsunade was trying to help Naruto at the end, cause that's what medics are supposed to do, but other than that she is almost as guilty as everyone else in the village. The only reason that she was there to begin with was that she happened to be there with Jiraiya in the village and was asked by Minato to help his sons.

About reaching out to Naruto, that will come out later, but as for now it was just cause they need to stay away from him. Minato and Kushina themselves also needed the time, you know, to deal with shame and so that they would As to why Minato and Kushina couldn't tell Satoru about Naruto running away from home was because, if you were a parent, would you really want your child/children to know that you have failed as a parent by neglecting one of your firstborn kids? Their opinion is going to somewhat change of you.

And you're probably right about the crack fic, but I'm just a random person in life and it makes it unique, no? But once I've finished, I'll go back through and redo some of my chapters. And Naruto knows he's Naruto, but it would seem suspect if you got your name wrong. And… the parents only find out after Kurama actually talks to Minato who tells Kushina. Aiko on the other hand is reminded of Naruto, but after having been five years, she wouldn't know if he had changed or not, was dead or alive, but she didn't put two and two together when she heard Kurama's voice, cause shock over hearing the voice and… also him challenging Sasuke. The shock continues through to Naruto being able to use Mokuton, and hearing Kurama's voice just gets pushed to the back of her mind, or if you like in one ear out the other.  
And I don't particularly want to turn this into something where " _everything suddenly becomes okay and they're all farting rainbows_ " it's just where Naruto is welcomed to have dinner where Kushina and Aiko don't know who he is and he hasn't met his other siblings at that point, that he needs to keep up the appearance of him being a stranger to them. Considering how he acted nice in class, keeping up the charade of being this nice person, can you really come up with a good reason to hate someone's family who you're _supposed_ to have just met.  
Naruto also friended Satoru at first to find out how he was able to enter into his jutsu with him, but after spending more and more time with him, he actually started to like his younger brother.

Umm let me know if there is anything that I have missed, I'll most likely be updating this before I post the next chapter. Which will be posted as soon as I finish stressing over one of the later chapters. _(or not now… cause I waited to post this... so probably a few days... sometime this week)_ \ (•^•) /


	7. Chapter 7

Sorry if I seem defensive at points, it's just human nature… but thanks for the comments, they really do help :) I also realize that I'm going to need to put a heck of a lot of flashbacks in at points from now on, so we'll get there, I think… Also sorry about not adding more flashbacks into this one, kinda left it too late...

Naruto does disappear too… well dies…

So we're going to continue now. And this starts at a time jump, okay?

* * *

Speech thingys.

"Normal"

Normal Thought

Kurama

Jutsu

Thought to add the time brackets thing in here to -  
{Flashback or Time Jump / Different Places / Different People.}

* * *

{Three Years Later. With Satoru.}

Satoru sat waiting behind the academy desk, waiting to have his name called for the genin test. He knew he was young and that his Tou-san and Kaa-san were against this from the beginning, but he knew he was ready. And once he became a ninja, he would be able to leave the village to go look for his nii-san.

"Satoru Uzumaki-Namikaze."

Satoru slowly walked towards the door and followed his sensei into another room.

"Are you sure that you want to do this?" His sensei asked once again, making sure that the boy hadn't changed his mind, all the while hoping that he would.

"No, I am still going to become a ninja today." Satoru calmly stated, holding his head high.

"You shall perform Kawarimi no Jutsu, Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, and Henge no Jutsu."

Satoru had already made three Kage Bunshin, one had used Henge and the other original Satoru had thrown kunai at to show that it had used Kawarimi. "Is that all sensei?"

His sensei nodded, handing over Satoru's headband. It had been attached to a long piece of fabric, and Satoru smiled, tying it around his waist. Only when he found Naruto was he going to wear it on his head.

After having passed the test, Satoru decided to go to the home that Naruto had lived in for five years. Having believed that his brother was still alive and with Kurama's urging, Satoru hadn't told his family where Naruto had lived, and didn't think that he would want them to know now that he wasn't here. So it had become his private training spot.

Hey Kit, you'll be able to find him soon. Kurama stated, knowing that his third container was still alive. I don't know what the Kid was doing while he gave me control of his body, but it had something to do with the jutsu.

"Kurama, why have you never let me use that jutsu?" Satoru finally asked. It had been weighing on his mind for a long time now.

You saw what happened to Kid's mind. I also have one last promise to keep.

{Three years ago. Naruto's Mindscape.}

Kurama was shocked as Naruto pushed Satoru out of his mind, and he was being pulled out to. Right before he was about to disappear, he saw Naruto's mouth moving. He couldn't hear by that point, but the words seemed to etch themselves into his mind.

"Take care of him."

{Current Time.}

He had a stupid smile on his face as he had said that. It was important to him that you be kept safe. That is what I intend to do Kit.

"I still can't believe that he was able to seal you inside of me." Satoru murmured as he started making his way home.

It wasn't a permanent seal. It seems he found another way to seal me into someone for a short amount of time without me being able to escape, or without killing the temporary holder if extracted.

"So you think that he had this planned the whole time?"

Probably. Sometimes he would watch you be a happy family before he met you. Most of the time I thought it was stupid, hurting himself more. Kurama had told Satoru about some of the things that his brother had gotten up too, as a promise that he wouldn't reveal everything the boy had done. But this was one time that Kurama couldn't keep that promise while pondering the thought of what Naruto had been planning. Now if all that time, he was looking at which of his siblings to place me in for an amount of time, it must mean he figured something else out.

When Satoru walked into the Uzumaki-Namikaze household, he hadn't taken notice of the strange stares that he was getting from his family. He knew his father knew about Kurama when Inoichi had to see if his mental state was alright just after Naruto had disappeared. He'd had to tell Minato about his conversations with Kurama, and how he knew that Kurama wasn't going to try anything. After having accepted this, Kushina and Minato had allowed Satoru to train with his older siblings. On the days that Satoru wanted to be alone, he would tell them that he was going his and Naruto's special place and asked not to be followed. They had tried to follow, but with Kurama helping it was nearly impossible for that to happen.

Satoru sat atop the waterfall again listening to Kurama talking about jutsus that had had worked on with Naruto. He smiled, happily continuing his brother's legacy.

"Kurama, when will we got and find Aniki?"

Soon Kit, very soon.

"And if we can't find him?"

We wait for him to find us. And he will, so you don't need to worry about that.

Satoru looked at the sky, watching it grow darker.

Head home now Kit. They're going to start worrying soon.

Satoru stood on the water before running down the waterfall, and heading on his way back home.

{Uzumaki-Namikaze Household.}

Satoru sat silently at the dinner table. Usually he would join in the conversation. It worried Kushina and Minato that Satoru might be following in Naruto's foot steps.

Aiko thought it might be happening as well, not wanting a repeat of what had happened with her elder brother, she tried to pull him into the conversation, even though he was reluctant.

"Tou-san, can I go on a mission?" Satoru asked out of the blue. He turned to stare at his father, who just ever so slightly nodded his head. Kushina went into an overprotective motherly mode, telling Minato that he was too young to start going on missions just yet.

"We'll talk more about this tomorrow in my office." Minato sighed as he took in his wife's angry look. "It will be alright Kushina-chan."

"It had better be." Kushina mumbled with her eyebrow twitching.

{Next Day. Hokage Office.}

Minato sat facing his son wife and team seven. "This is a simple c-rank mission to the wave. You will be escorting a builder back to his village. Kakashi, Team Seven, you will also be watching over Satoru-san here. I expect that you are going to be especially careful as well, Aiko-chan?"

"Hai Hokage-sama." They all replied with varying degrees of interest.

"Be careful when you're out there. You have an hour to gather all the necessary items before your departure." Minato sighed once they had left the room. Kushina stood over her husband though, and he could see the fire burning in her eyes.

"I can't believe you're sending two of our children out!" Kushina yelled, her facing going slightly red.

"But Kushina-chan, Kakashi-san is one of my trusted students, and with both him and Aiko-chan, Satoru-san is as safe as he can be. Aiko-chan doesn't want to go through losing another brother. Believe in her to take care of him." Minato begged, holding Kushina's hand between both of his.

Finally she let out a sigh, "I understand."

{One Hour Later. Konoha Gates.}

Satoru set off just behind the others. It was going to be easier to talk to Kurama that way. He heard a commotion up the front a while later, where Tazuna stood. In front of them Satoru saw a puddle that shouldn't have been there. He knew Kakashi knew, as well as Kurama, who was trying to get him ready for whatever was about to come next.

They all saw Kakashi get chopped by the chains. Satoru only smirked, as Kurama had told him that Kakashi was hiding only a few feet away in the bushes. Satoru laughed, gathering the attention of everyone present. The two ninja only laughed it off, that is until they all heard Satoru speak. "Hyoton: Tsubame Fubuki."

They saw swallows appear mid-air above the boy and watched as the ice birds were aimed at the two enemy ninja. While they were fighting off the ice-birds, only those close to Satoru could hear what he said next.

"Hyoro no Jutsu." They all watched stunned as the two enemy ninja were caught in an ice prison. "Alright Kakashi-sensei, you can come out now."

Satoru watched all of the team members carefully. He had noticed that everyone had gone pale at seeing what he could do.

"I thought that jutsu needed pre-existing ice to work." Kakashi stated as he walked out from his hiding place.

"I had help so that I would be able to use it when I needed." Satoru replied with a shy smile. "But aren't you going to talk to Tazuna-san, Kakashi-sensei?"

Kakashi nodded before turning to the man. "Do you mind explaining why you have chunin class ninja after you? We should be turning around now, thanks to mission becoming at least b-rank."

"No! We have to continue." Satoru stated with determination burning in his eyes, he then turned to Tazuna. "So why were you paying for a c-rank mission? When this is mission was clearly above that level?"

"My village isn't a rich village. In fact it's been getting worse since Gato and his thugs got to the village." Once Tazuna had finished explaining about his village and Gato, Kakashi asked if they would be fine with going back.

"No. We have to continue." Satoru told him again.

"Why do you feel so strongly about this Satoru-san?" Kakashi stared at the boy with his one eye. He stayed silent but seemed to be reading his soul. Aiko had seemed to have picked up on something that they missed in his silence.

"No! He's dead, Otouto! You have to let him go!" Aiko pleaded, holding onto Satoru's hand.

"He's not dead!" Satoru pulled roughly away from his sister before dragging Tazuna along with him.

Aiko looked at her team, before racing after her brother.

{Sometime Later.}

Satoru had finally calmed down. Slowing down from his run, he saw that Team Seven was closing in, and that they had relieved looks on their faces. Aiko started fussing about her younger brother, making sure that he was alright. She didn't take note of the mist that was slowly gathering around them until she couldn't really afford not to notice. Her and Satoru jumped back by the others.

Stay back Kit, there is another ninja nearby.

Satoru stayed by Sakura and Tazuna, while Aiko and Sasuke stood in front of them and Kakashi at the head.

"Everybody get down!" Kakashi yelled as they all dropped to the ground. A blade swung through the air landing in a tree. Moments later, a man appeared atop the handle. "Well if it isn't Zabuza Momochi."

The man looked over his shoulder at them, noticing that the youngest kid had already stood up and was wonder away from them all. He focused his attention back on Kakashi, seemingly forgetting the boy that was looking for his partner.

Satoru listened to the sounds of the battle that were raging behind him, intent on finding the man's partner. He smiled when he saw the outline of the ninja and proceeded to take a seat next to the enemy.

"Shouldn't you be down there?" The ninja tilted their head in the direction of the rest of his team.

"They got it covered. Just watch." Satoru muttered, watching how far their teamwork was coming along. At least for the moment.

Kakashi had become trapped in a prison of water.

Kid use to like that jutsu. Suiro no Jutsu.

Satoru smiled as Kurama was taking a trip down memory lane. He watch Aiko get pushed back along with her clones, making sure to transform into shuriken before having one of her clones toss her to Sasuke.

Both the ninja and Satoru watched the battle intensely. They watched as Aiko had forced Zabuza to release Kakashi, before Kakashi and Zabuza started an all out battle. Satoru could momentarily hear Kurama laugh, but decided to ignore it as he saw the ninja throw senbon needles at Zabuza neck and proceed to take him away. Satoru watched the others before slowly coming out from the trees. He knew that Aiko would be happy, but the others weren't, seeing as how his kekkei genkei could have been useful to them. But he brushed them off when he said that he was with the other ninja, and that he gathered a bit of information just from sitting next to them.

They seemed shocked at what the young boy had said and were gaping like fish. "Sadly I didn't get to ask him what I wanted though."

After that they had continued onto Tazuna's house and let Kakashi rest.

* * *

There are a few things in here that need to be explained, but at the moment, I can't remember. So they'll probably be explained at the starting of the next chapter.

And ncpfan if you have any ideas on how to make it seem more realistic, feel free to pm me or such.

P.s. with the flashbacks, just let me know what you guys want to know and I'll try to put them in.


	8. Chapter 8

Okay the good thing is I went back through and remembered that I pushed the wave arc back to fit into Satoru's timeframe. So yeah… Sorry if the timeline gets confusing.

* * *

Speech thingys.

"Normal"

 _Normal Thought_

 **Kurama**

 **Jutsu**

Thought to add the time brackets thing in here to -  
 _ **{Flashback or Time Jump / Different Places / Different People.}**_

* * *

 _ **{In Town. With Satoru.}**_

Satoru walked around the town, looking at what had become of it since Gato had gotten there. He knew that Kakashi was training his team and had decided to check out the town before going to train himself.

He saw a women that was starting to be tugged away from the street, and decided to intervene. The woman looked at him strangely after he had scared away the men.  
"I feel as though we have met before. But you're eyes have changed and you're slightly smaller." The woman invited him over for tea. Satoru happily agreed, knowing that it was his Aniki that she was talking about.

"Are all the houses like this?" Satoru asked as he looked over the decaying building.

"They only look like this. The insides look better now than before." The woman told him. "Oh, by the way my name is Yura Komatsu. Please call me Yura-san."

"My name is Satoru Uzumaki-Namikaze. People call me Satoru-san." Satoru took his cup of tea, delighted in how it was one of the best that had had in a while. Yura blushed before taking a sip from her own cup. "You said that you've met someone who looks similar to me?"

"Mmm." Yura nodded finishing her mouthful. "He was here not to long ago. He went around fixing up the insides of the houses using a kekkei genkei. At least he said that **Mokuton** was a bloodline."

"Are you sure that he looked like me and used **Mokuton**?" Satoru edged closer to Yura.

"Yes. I'm very sure, sadly he didn't tell anyone his name." Yura pouted.

"Can you tell me where he was heading after this?"

Yura noticed that Satoru was excited. "I asked him the same thing. He told me that he wasn't going anywhere in particular, that he was just wandering around the place."

Satoru suddenly dimmed at that. "Thank you Yura-san. You were very helpful to me today."

Yura was about to protest, but Satoru had already gone.

After leaving Yura's house, Satoru and Kurama were discussing where Naruto could have gone. Satoru had gone into the woods so that he wouldn't be disturbed, and could talk out loud freely with Kurama. "So he really is still alive. How did he manage to survive his mind going like that?"

 **Well Kit, the only way for us to find out is for us to find Kid and ask him.**

Satoru continued on deeper into the forest, knowing that he would need to get far away from the towns people. He continued deeper into the forest, he came across a girl with long black hair, picking herbs. He walked towards her, offering to help and get her job done faster. Satoru recognized the figure while Kurama was telling him that he had the same chakra signature as the ninja that had saved Zabuza. "What are you doing all the way out here?"

"I am going to train to become stronger." Satoru smiled as he thought about his brother saying that same thing.

"Even though you already look strong, you still want to train?" The girl asked, looking over the little boy with a happy expression.

"I need to become stronger." Satoru replied with determination, repeating the words that Naruto had told Kurama long ago.

"Why… Why do you want to become stronger?" The girl had a sad expression on her face he noted, and wondered why.

"So that I can go find Aniki and bring him back home." Satoru felt happy that he could talk about his brother to someone who didn't think that he had died.

"That's good. You have become truly strong because he is your precious person that you want to protect." The girl said, looking happier than she had in a long time. She stood after collecting some more herbs. "By the way, I'm a boy."

"I wasn't sure." Satoru paused for a second, talking again when the boy was about to walk away. "Tell Zabuza-san to heal quickly. The team can't wait to see what their training has held for them.

Satoru vanished before the boy could turn around and see him go. He smiled before walking back a ways before using **Shunshin** to go back to Zabuza.

 _ **{With Team Seven.}**_

"Hey guys, has anyone seen Otouto?" Aiko looked at her teammates and sensei as she asked this. Sasuke and Sakura shook their heads, while Kakashi had put a finger to his chin in thought.

"I believe that he was going into town before going to train on his own." Kakashi had gone to sit down by a tree, and had pulled out his book. "You shouldn't worry too much. He'll be back when he wants to be."

Aiko thought it over, knowing that her Tou-san wouldn't have been to happy with how she had let her younger brother walk alone through a town that was unknown to them and in another territory. Finally she nodded. "But if he isn't back when it's tea, we're going to go and find him."

The others agreed, knowing that Aiko would be going with or without them. After they had that sorted out, they started training again, Aiko and Sasuke starting a competition to see who would be able to get to the top of the tree first.

 _ **{With Satoru.}**_

Satoru lay panting on the ground, exhausted from trying to get **Hyoton: Haryu Moko** to be used without snow already existing. At most, it looked like a tiger cub. They were still deadly, he knew that people would underestimate them, but they wouldn't be as effective as a full grown tiger. In terms of strength they could be thrown off quite easily, all the other person had to do was literally push them away and get up before they could be pounced on again. Although it could work quite well if there was another ice user that had already cast a jutsu.

Satoru looked at the sky, thinking about how late it was getting and how Aiko would be starting to worry about him. He decided that he should try and get back to Tsunami's home. It took him longer than it normally would have due to his exhaustion. He walked past all the places that he had before and noticed Yura walking towards him. "You have been working too hard!"

Satoru grimaced as she tried to get too close to him, but she still picked him up and carried him. He was protesting until she said it would be better if she was able to have him on her back. Satoru stopped protesting, and allowed her to carry him back to Tsunami's home.

"Thank you Yura-san." Satoru whispered, shortly after falling silent.

 _ **{Tsunami's House.}**_

Tsunami went to answer the door after hearing a knock. Team Seven and Kakashi had just returned. Upon opening the door, she saw an old friend carrying a sleeping Satoru. "Yura-chan, it's been a while. You can bring Satoru-san through here." Tsunami had spoken softly as to allow the boy his rest, and that was how they continued to talk until they were far enough away from the room Satoru was sharing with Sasuke.

When they made it back to the dining room, Aiko had pounced on Yura, asking why her little brother was like that.

"I think he was training, but I can't say. I only found him walking back through town like that, I didn't really think he would be able to make it anywhere in that state. He fell asleep halfway here." Yura saw that Aiko didn't look to happy, she could tell what the girl wanted to go do, but shook her head, "he needs the rest at the moment. Please do whatever you want tomorrow."

Aiko reluctantly agreed, before sitting down to eat some dinner. Once again getting into a contest with Sasuke.

 _ **{The Next Day.}**_

Satoru woke up early and left before his sister could catch him. He went out to his secluded spot in the forest and began working on using **Hyoton: Haryu Moko** without having snow already around. He worked on this until lunch time, heading back to Tsunami's house to get something to eat.

Upon reaching her house, Satoru could sense that his sister was inside, and decided to wait for them to leave before heading inside. When Tsunami saw him she sighed, before handing over the food that she had saved for him. "You should really go talk to your sister."

"All she wants to do at the moment is scold me for staying out too late and training too much. Itadakimasu." Satoru replied digging into the food.

"They aren't the only ones worried about you." Tsunami told him, giving him her best mum stare.

"They would be able to deal with it." Satoru said cooly, before getting up, washing his plate and going back to his training spot.

This time instead of working on **Hyoton: Haryu Moko** Satoru decided to continuing working on using one handed seals. He would let Kurama take over a **Kage Bunshin** to help with control. Satoru could use most of his **Hyoton** jutsus with one handed seals and was currently working others that would be easily done in the few days that he had before Zabuza would reappear.

Satoru worked on the single hand signs for **Suiton: Suidanha** , first with his right hand and continuing with his left. After Kurama was confident that Satoru wasn't going to harm himself, he allowed him to add chakra to it. Kurama watched as the jutsu worked, not far off from being as good as it would be with both hands.

" **Kit, you need to let the chakra build up more before releasing the jutsu. Once you have accomplished that, we'll move on.** " Satoru nodded, building more chakra before releasing the jutsu, but nothing to what Kurama wanted. " **You're still releasing it too early. Leave the chakra for a few more seconds.** "

After three more hours, a lot of the forest surrounding Satoru had been destroyed, but it was at the standard that Kurama wanted. Kurama could feel chakra moving towards their current location, and dispersed the **Kage Bunshin** and returning to Satoru. **Someone will be here any minute. Keep your guard up.**

Satoru watched the area around him, waiting for the person that Kurama had mentioned. Who it was though completely shocked Satoru.

* * *

 **Hyōton: Haryū Mōko = Ice Release: Tearing Dragon Fierce Tiger**

 **Suiton: Suidanha = Water Release: Water Severing Wave  
** **Kage Bunshin no Jutsu** = Shadow clone jutsu.

Woo Hoo! Finally found out how to get letters with lines and that over them! Who knew that it was always under the special characters.

Oh and sorry for the extremely short chapter. My poor attempt at a cliffhanger wouldn't have worked otherwise, so yeah… hope you guys still stick around for whatever comes from my deluded brain next. Heh heh... heh….

*Since I was planning on updating next week as a continuation of my every two weeks - just that this one was a little late - that plan went out the window when I was looking at the school's website and found out when my mock exams were… So it isn't going to be next week(2) that I will update. When I do update again it will be towards the end of the week(3) after that or it will be towards the following week(4) after that. I hope that made sense.*

** (2) next week.  
(3) two weeks from now.

(4) three weeks from now.


	9. Chapter 9

Sorry about such a late update, but if anyone has read on my profile about my habit of procrastination then it shouldn't come as a big surprise as that's what happened for two weeks…

A huge thanks to ncpfan who helped me greatly in this.

I know that there will be things that I have missed in here, and if it seems a bit rushed in places, it will be because it was rushed in the edited parts, so I am really hoping that this chapter turns out alright.

* * *

Speech thingys.

"Normal"

 _Normal Thought_

 **Kurama**

 **Jutsu**

Thought to add the time brackets thing in here to -  
 _ **{Flashback or Time Jump / Different Places / Different People.}**_

* * *

 _ **{In Satoru's Mindscape.}**_

Satoru fell back, feeling strong arms wrap around him before he even fell too far. "What took you so long?" Satoru sobbed, buried his face into the warm shoulder.

"I'm sorry." His voice was warm, his arms pulling Satoru closer to him. "I'm sorry."

"I'm just so glad," Satoru wrapped his arms tightly around the boy. "Aniki."

 _ **{In the Clearing.}**_

Aiko watched her little brother in the clearing, taking in all the damage he had caused. She knew that he was powerful, but not enough to do this. That had her standing still for a few more moments, thinking about how to tell her parents about this when they got back.

She crept forwards as to keep her Otouto asleep as long as possible, but was startled about halfway to him. "What do you want, Aiko-nee?"  
"It's late. Were you planning to stay here all night and avoid me again?" Aiko picked him and started carrying him back to Tsunami's, deciding to walk rather than jump from tree to tree like usual to have more time talking with Satoru. "I could feel your chakra at lunch today."  
"Well it didn't work out did it." Satoru was about to jump off Aiko's back when Kurama told him to stay there, since he wasn't going to help the boy if he couldn't walk. Satoru knew that Kurama's actual reason was so that Satoru would start properly talking to his eldest sister again.  
"Please Otouto, stop avoiding me." Aiko pleaded, trying to get somewhere with her younger brother. "At the very least stop training so hard that you've reached the point of exhaustion."  
"And yet Aniki always trained in the same way. But you guys wouldn't know much of that."

"You aren't Naruto-nii, Satoru-kun!" Aiko reeled her anger in, trying not to take it out on her Otouto. "I've told you my side, and it's been long enough since he was still here. You need to move past it!"  
"Aiko-nee, I'm grateful that you talked to me about Aniki when I asked, and glad that you at least tried to make friends with him when you guys were in the academy. And it isn't going away, the hurt that he had to suffer. You at least did better than them." Satoru jumped of Aiko's back this time, despite what Kurama was saying. Taking a deep breath and turning to face his sister a few yards ahead, Satoru began speaking again. "None of you have gotten it yet! Aniki isn't gone! I'm not trying to be him, and I know that I'm not him!"  
"If he isn't gone then why did he leave you?" Aiko clamped her hands over her mouth, realizing what had just come from her mouth.  
Satoru stumbled back a little, her words like a punch that knocked the breath out of him. The breath that he couldn't find again. The shock of it though, giving him more energy to run away from the reality that had been forced in front of him. Minutes later, feeling the strain that he was putting on his body, and the emotional tax that that conversation had just brought about, Satoru collapsed into a sobbing, messy heap. The truth of Aiko's words continuing to ring through his head.

 _ **{With Aiko.}**_

Aiko dropped to her knees the minute her Otouto left. The pain she felt in her chest becoming worse the more seconds that passed. Her loud body racking sobs, brought the rest of Team seven to her. "What happened?" Sakura moved next to Aiko, sitting her back so that they would be able to hear her as clearly as possible.  
"I w-w-went to far…" Aiko held her face in her hands. "I told h-h-him that N-n-naruto-n-nii… l-l-left him behind… I made it w-w-worse!"  
Kakashi summoned Pakkun to follow Satoru's scent trail sending Sasuke off with him first, telling them that he would catch up with them soon. "Will you be alright to take Aiko-chan back, Sakura-chan?"  
"Of course, Sensei." Sakura replied, helping Aiko to her feet, continuing to support her as she cried.

Once Kakashi got the go ahead, he quickly caught up with Pakkun and Sasuke. "Just how far can a nine year old go when they're exhausted?" Sasuke knew that the Uzumaki clan had great stamina having been around Aiko and her family so long. But even for her nine year old brother to be fast catching up with his sister in terms of stamina amazed him.  
"Well for a normal nine year old, not many steps from where they first stood. Even with a child with great amounts of stamina would have collapsed about half of the way back that we've come." Kakashi answered the somewhat rhetorical question. "But specifically talking about Satoru-san? Well we don't personally know how much he can handle, since he has been training on his own for three years now, and longer with Naruto-san."  
Sasuke thought about the information, processing the fact that they barely knew anything about Satoru. His train of thought stopped when Pakkun called for them to halt. Just below them they saw Satoru curled in a ball, knees to his chest, on his side. "Satoru-san!"  
They saw that his eyes were closed, and yet there were still tears slipping out from the closed lids.

 _ **{Satoru's Mindscape.}**_

Satoru sat next to Kurama's smaller form. Kurama had shrunk so that he stood as tall as Satoru's shoulders. "Why hasn't he come back?"  
" **Because he has to do important things to keep you safe. How would he be able to do that discreetly if we were there?** " Kurama tried, hoping that he would be able to restore his charge's faith in the boy that had changed him.  
"How long have they been keeping that to themselves? Why didn't it come up until now?" Satoru cried a little. "They're right you know, about him leaving me behind."  
" **They aren't right. Kid has done everything that he can to protect you. That's why I was sealed inside of you. To stop the stupid mumblings that Kid left you behind, and to protect you.** " Kurama paused for a moment, thinking about how to answer the first part of that question. " **And your family has thought that way for a long time. The reason that it hasn't come up until now, is that those two people were keeping the others quiet. Always managing in some way or another to change the subject as soon as someone started to mention it. Or I would take you away from the situation.** "  
"So they let me keep going on and on about it? Why didn't they just say it before?" Satoru punched the ground in his anger.  
It broke every so slightly, which Kurama knew that it shouldn't have. As quickly as he could he picked up Satoru to stop him from hurting himself. It only made Satoru try to fight him. " **If you don't listen up right now, you'll end up worse than Kid did!** "  
Satoru looked at Kurama, still tensed to continue attacking but having stopped for the moment so that he would be able to explain.  
" **You can't attack in here at the moment. Your belief in your brother has been shaken, and so has the foundation of your mind, this place could be just as easily destroyed as Kid's mind disintegrated. But your body will not disappear as his did, instead your body will remain and your mind will be broken.** " Kurama paused in his rant, hoping that what had been said so far would stick. " **What do you think that Kid wants to come back to? A healthy young brother, or one that can no longer respond to him?** "

Satoru calmed down slightly as he thought of Naruto coming back to see him and not knowing that he was there. "The next time that I see him, words are going to be exchanged."

 _ **{With Kakashi.}**_

Kakashi had quickly placed Satoru on his back and they were heading back towards Tsunami's house. He had sent Sasuke ahead to prepare a fuuton for the young boy. He didn't expect for him to be up anytime soon, especially after the rollercoaster that he had been sent on. About half of the way there, Kakashi felt him stir on his back. "What happened to Aiko-nee?"

"She was taken back to Tsunami's home by Sakura-chan." Kakashi slowed down a little so that they wouldn't reach the house before he could finish talking with the boy. "Why don't you tell me what happened between you and Aiko-chan?"  
Satoru stayed quiet for a moment, listening to the words that Kurama was saying to him, before telling Kakashi. "Aniki is still alive. B-but, Aiko-nee said that he had left me behind."  
"If Naruto-san is alive then he wouldn't leave you behind. He might not be able to be with you right now, but that's only because he would be trying to keep you safe." Kakashi glanced over his shoulder at the boy who he promised his sensei that he would look after. Even if it meant that he would tell him things that he didn't himself believe.  
"Kurama told me the same thing before." Satoru muttered. He leaned as far forwards as he could on Kakashi to try to watch his eye. "So were you in on helping them not to bring up Aniki leaving?"  
Kakashi sighed. "I suppose that Kurama told you about that?"  
"Yes. Who else was involved then?" Satoru squinted at the man, not really knowing what he was going to do now that he was utterly exhausted.  
"The most trusted people who stopped anyone from talking were, your family, Sasuke-san, Sakura-san, Shikamaru-san and myself." Kakashi kept looking forwards, deciding to let Satoru process the information in the best way that the boy seemed to know how without getting as angry to destroy things. By letting him go back into his mindscape peacefully. It was either that or Satoru really was exhausted and had fallen asleep. Kakashi sighed, the situation with the Uzumaki-Namikaze family getting worse yet again.

 _ **{Two Years Ago. Hokage's Office.}**_

"I'm trusting that you will help to bring my son back without harm." Minato stood facing the window, thinking about where Satoru had run to this time. It had started four weeks after Naruto's death, when Satoru had started to run away. Since his death, many things had been destroyed in their house. Most of the photos in the house were destroyed, seeing as how many of them didn't have Naruto in them. And the ones that did, well Naruto never really looked happy. Satoru taken them all and kept them to himself, making a shrine to his brother, that he believed was still out alive. "You're dismissed Kakashi-san."  
As soon as Kakashi had **shunshin** towards the last place that they had found the Hokage's son, Kushina appeared in his office. "Don't worry, Ume-chan and Nao-chan are looking after Tsuda-kun for now."  
Minato walked towards his wife, taking in the anger and sorrow in her expression. He took a deep breath, already knowing what this was going to be about. "Are you really ready for this?"  
"Our son is getting hurt Minato!" Kushina cried out, this was too important to try and start off without coming out blazing. "Satoru has ended up in the hospital more times than I want to count, because we haven't told him anything about what we did to Naruto!"  
"We haven't told anyone! Do you really think it will be that easy?"

"He is just going to keep on looking, and I don't want our son to be hurt anymore!"  
"I don't want him hurt either, but there has to be another way!"  
"There isn't another way and you know that!" Kushina wiped away some of the tears that had started flowing down her cheeks. Minato was starting to talk again, but Kushina was having none of it. "He already hates what we did to Naruto! And _you know_ that what we're doing now is the same thing. We have to tell him!"  
"What's to stop him from running away again after we tell him Kushina? I know we were trying to make up for what we did with Naruto -"  
"And that didn't work! We only covered up what we did to Naruto with Satoru! So take a look at where we are now Minato! We've been injured by our son in his attempts to leave, or escape being brought back! He distrusts us and we lost all the respect he had for us a long time ago! 'So what is going to stop him from running away again and again even if we tell him' I DON'T CARE! We already have lost two of our children whether _you_ want to admit it or not!"

"We haven't lost him yet!" Minato rushed to Kushina's side as she fell to the floor on her knees, only for her to slap his hand away as he tried to reach for her.  
"Yes Minato, we have. I'm going to tell him, whether you want me to or not, I'm going to tell him." Kushina stared her husband in the eyes, daring him to say anything against her decision.  
Minato thought carefully about what to say next at the look in Kushina's eyes. "Allow me some time to make up a deal so that he will still be living under our roof, and that we know he will be alright, even when we do tell him."  
"I had better hear what these terms are before you tell our son." Kushina slammed the door behind her as she went to go join the search for Satoru.

 _ **{Present Time. Satoru's Mindscape.}**_

 **Kit, you know that they love you…**

 _But why did they wait so long Kurama. Why do I have to think about that day every time they say something new about Aniki?_

Satoru let Kurama comfort him in the way that he seemed to know how. He entered his mindscape, moving forwards to Kurama and wrapping his arms around the medium sized fox's neck. Two of his tails wrapping around the boy in return. **Because Kit, that was the day that they told you all that you needed to know at the time. And with this new information, you needed to add it to what you already knew. It's what you have done for a little bit now, thinking back to things that you have already processed.**

 _ **{Two Years Ago. With Satoru.}**_

Satoru sat across from Minato and Kushina, glaring at the two people who had neglected his dearest aniki, to the point where they didn't know that he was gone from their home since before he was born. Aiko had gone over to the Hyūga compound with Umeko, whereas Naoko had gone over to the Yamanaka compound. Kushina had just put Tsuda down for a nap, so he wasn't going to be waking up any time soon. "Satoru-san, we have a proposition for you." Kushina started, making sure that her son was listening. "Your Tou-san and I have decided to tell you about Naruto-san, if you do not run away from home, and will be able to tell us where you plan to be at certain times in the day. Meals will be had with us and your siblings, unless you have told us that you will be eating elsewhere."  
"There will be at least another two hours during the day that you will need to spend with your Kaa-chan or I. Whether you decide to spend an hour with one or both of us, is up to you." Minato held his wife's hand, waiting to see Satoru's reaction. "In addition to this I would also like to place a **Hiraishin** seal on your body so that should we need to be able to find you, you will be found within the village at any time." Satoru's gaze was narrowed as he looked at his parents with suspicion and anger. "Now I know that what I am about to say next will put pressure on you, but it would be better if you would be able to keep this a secret."  
Satoru still looking at his parents with narrowed eyes, finally gave them an indication that he may be willing to listen. "And why should I believe you? Why tell me now? Why do I have to keep it a secret?"  
"Because each time that you try to go looking for Naruto-san and we try to bring you back, someone always seems to get hurt! This has been going on for too long and I don't want anything worse to happen to you than what already has!" Kushina exclaimed as she stood, pulling her hand from Minato's in the process and clenching her fists by her sides. "Did you really think that we wanted you hurt in the first place?"  
"This has become part of the things that we have not discussed, or swept under the mat for a while now."  
Satoru stared at the tears forming in Kushina's eyes, and Minato's somewhat pleading eyes, asking Kurama for advice on the current situation. **You can listen to them Kit. You will be able to talk to me should you need to afterwards. The only thing is, is that they should tell you** _ **now**_ **. Make sure that you do not have to wait due to a ridiculously feeble excuse.**

 _Do you think that I would have waited?_ Satoru asked the fox. _You've told me before that they wouldn't tell me anything 'in this lifetime if they could help it'.  
_ **You're a quick study then to pounce at the chance.** Kurama settled back in Satoru's mind, listening to what was going to be said.  
"If I agreed to your terms, you would agree to mine, right?" Satoru watched his parents carefully, waiting to see any sign of hesitation. None was found.  
"Of course we would." Kushina sat back down, nudging Minato as well, to which he nodded in agreement. "What are your terms."  
"No one follows me when I say that I'm going to Aniki's spot, he didn't want it to be found before, so I won't let that happen now." Satoru stared at his parents, making sure that it was sinking in. "And you have to tell me now, what you did to Aniki."  
Both nodded. "So we are in agreement then?"  
Satoru nodded, waiting for them to start speaking. It wasn't going so well, and he knew that they would need something to start them talking. "When did it first start?"  
Minato drew in an almost silent breath, before letting it out in a rush. "I've thought about this for a long time now, and I realize that this will sound as though we are trying to cover the neglect, but we started to _forget_ our eldest when he was three. There was one day when Aiko-chan went to Naruto's room. When we heard Aiko-chan scream, we rushed to see what was wrong. She had... Kurama's chakra had started to form a cloak around her. The thought that she couldn't contain it was horrible, and we'd sealed the chakra back into her and made sure that she was safe. The only explanation was that Naruto-san had something to do with the sudden appearance of the chakra."  
"We had thought that it was Naruto-san's fault, because that was the only explanation. Especially when he said, 'Aiko didn't knock, so she got hurt.'-"  
"But Aniki didn't want to hurt anyone! That was Kurama!" Satoru defended Naruto, trying to clear up his elder brother's name. "He wasn't the type to try and hurt someone without reason!"  
Kushina looked at her son, in the absolute faith that he had in his brother. "That was the only thing at the time! And it made me so angry that he would try to hurt his younger sibling, because we hadn't taught him to do anything bad, so it meant that he was listening to Kurama, who had a deep hatred for the village that sealed him away." The tears were starting to form in her eyes again. "I slapped my son. And would have done worse if Minato hadn't pulled me away, and condemned Naruto to his room, only allowed out for meals… I don't remember him coming out of his room at all that day."  
Satoru looked to Minato to continue with where this was going. "Naruto was at the dinner table most nights, there was only ever enough for him. Everytime he would try to grab more we would send him to his room. There were some nights where he had fallen off his chair and his food would land on him, on those nights he would have to clean up the mess before going to his room without dinner. And as horrible as this is going to sound, but since we forgot about our son, we didn't know when he had left home." Minato looked at his son, waiting to see what he was thinking, he could see the anger very clearly in his eyes. "When Naruto left home, then we forgot entirely about him."  
"Until you, Umeko-chan and Nao-chan decided to go exploring, and found a photo of Naruto in his room. We don't entirely understand why, but we had avoided his room like the plague."Kushina paused for a second. "And when we said that you couldn't have that photo of Naruto-san, it was because we had it beside our bed so that we would be able to remember him."  
"That sounds made up!" Satoru ground out. "Like you don't want to tell me the real reason that Aniki left!"  
With that Satoru stormed out of the lounge and up to his room. Slamming the door and climbing out the window, he moved as quickly as he could Naruto's home, with Kurama suppressing his chakra so that he wouldn't be detected.

 **Go easy. They aren't going to catch up anytime soon.** Kurama's tone was gentle, as much as his voice could sound, to try at least bring some of Satoru's anger back.  
"That was bull Kurama!" Satoru yelled, eyes starting to sting a little as he stopped by the waterfall. "I thought they were going to tell me!"  
 **But they didn't sound as though they were lying.** Kurama paused momentarily, thinking back to when he was stilled sealed inside Naruto. **It would also explain some of the shock, even though quickly hidden, that was in their eyes when Naruto was at the table sometimes. As though they were remembering that they had a son.  
** "SO NOW YOU'RE TAKING THEIR SIDE?"  
 **No. Everything that Kid went through, I saw. Just because it sounds as though they are lying, doesn't mean that this time they are.** Kurama saw Satoru's bloodied hands when brought up to Satoru's eyes. **Stupid boy. What is hurting yourself going to accomplish?  
** "More than doing nothing." Satoru mumbled under his breath as he watched his hands heal thanks to Kurama. "You think I should go back and listen to them!"  
 **Yes. I believe that they were telling you the truth, so you should also heed their terms to telling you. Like you just have.** Kurama snickered the last part of his sentence.  
Satoru groaned in frustration, hitting his newly healed hand on the ground hard enough to cause it to break. Kurama rolled his eyes, taking control from Satoru so that he would be able to heal his hand faster, before taking his charge back to his home.

 _ **{Present Time. At Tsunami's House.}**_

Upon reaching Tsunami's home, it had appeared that Satoru had fallen asleep again. Aiko gave Kakashi a glare, before glaring at everyone who made a sound. She took Satoru from Kakashi to his fuuton, mumbling under her breath that she was sorry. After she had entered the dining room again, she was asked about Satoru.

"He was training again." Aiko looked down at her fingers. "Then I upset him on the way back, saying something that I knew was going to hurt him about our nii-san." Instead of eating like everyone else, Aiko just stared at her food. Disgusted at the way that she had spoken to her brother. "If only I could have been stronger."

"It's okay Aiko-chan." Sakura started. "Why don't we focus on the mission at hand. We'll have them beat soon."

Inari stood up, slamming his hands onto the table. "Is that why you train? Why you bother to try so hard?" There was a stunned silence at the table. "No matter how hard you try, Gato and his men are stronger than you! And it doesn't matter what you say! When weak face the strong they're just going to get killed!" Inari's eyes were stinging as he stared down at his hands. "Why are you being so nosy in a county that you don't even know! "

"I'm not like you."

"I'd hate to be like you! Like any of you!" Inari had started crying, not noticing Aiko rise from her seat. "You don't know me! You're always clowning around and acting so cheerful! You don't get how tough life can be!"

"So, you think it's okay to cry all day? To be a wimp who does nothing?" Aiko asked, glaring at the boy with all the rage she had inside her. "You don't know enough to judge other people! So just-"

"Nee-chan, that's enough." Satoru stated coldly, stumbling out of the doorway and to the table. Aiko hurried to help him, already mumbling her apologies again. "Enough!"  
Satoru unable to handle Aiko's mother-mode stumbled out behind a tearful Inari, holding two loafs of bread. Leaving a tense atmosphere behind him.

 _ **{Minutes Later With Kakashi and Inari.}**_

Kakashi sat quietly next to Inari for a moment. "I hope you realize that Aiko-chan, although rough around some edges, does mean well. It's just that she has no filter sometimes."

Inari continued to look at his feet.

"Tazuna-san told us about what happened to your father." Kakashi looked over the water as he continued. "It reminded Aiko-chan and Satoru-san about their older brother."

Inari looked over at Kakashi suspiciously.

"Their brother, Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze. Everyone apart from a select few didn't know about Naruto-san. They knew that he had gone missing, but he was forgotten. A few years later, he reappeared when Sasuke-san, Sakura-chan and Aiko-chan were in their last year at the academy. By the time that they were graduating, Satoru-san was close to Naruto-san. He had been sneaking out to spend time with him at night."

"So what happened to Naruto-san?"

"He died protecting Satoru-san." Kakashi sighed as he said this. As this is what all villagers were told, and what the people who actually knew what had happened that day, were also told to tell. "That was the day the Satoru-san had revealed him as their family. They wouldn't have known otherwise.

"The truth is that the whole family has had a rough past. Aiko-chan and their parents lost Naruto-san twice. Satoru-san had become close enough with him, that it was almost as if he had lost all the light in him when Naruto-san died. Their other siblings, even though not as close, they lost a brother as well."

"So how come I've never seen them cry?"

"Aiko-chan has gotten over crying for her elder brother, now she only cries if it has something to do with her living relatives. Satoru stopped crying so that he could live up to the example that his brother set. But Satoru-san still believes that Naruto-san will come back. Aiko-chan knows that this isn't possible, so tries to persuade him that Naruto-san isn't going to come back."

"But the dead can't come back, they stay dead." Inari muttered, which Kakashi decided to ignore.

"You wouldn't think it, but those two, they know how to be strong. Just like your father and Naruto-san."

Inari looked at Kakashi with suspicion again.

"Your father he died protecting what he loved. Just at Naruto-san died protecting someone that he loved." With that Kakashi stood, leaving Inari to take whatever he would from that.

 _ **{With Satoru.}**_

He leaned against the side of the house, eating the bread and listening to Kakashi talking about his family. Satoru left just before Kakashi did and moving as fast as he could back to the spot that he had been training in. He sat in the center, and let Kurama fix the landscape so that no one would be suspicious once he had left this time. He sat cross legged, feeling eyes boring holes into his body, he called out to the person. Aiko walked out and sat near him, figuring that she would be able to take him back when it was too late. When she went to move Satoru, he was asleep like before, only this time, stayed that way the entire way back to Tsunami's home, and right through the night.

 _ **{The next morning.}**_

"Please watch over Satoru. He should be out for the next few days." Kakashi left with Aiko, Sakura and Sasuke to protect Tazuna at the bridge. They walked in relative silence on the way, each person thinking over what had happened the night before. Once reaching the bridge, Kakashi had two of the genin helping out the builders and one on watch, rotating them every so often.

"Hey Kakashi-sensei! I want to go check on Otouto! Do you mind?" Kakashi felt sweat run down his face in an overtly large drop.

"I'm sure that Tsunami-chan is taking excellent care of Satoru-san. He should be fine."

They continued to work after that, Aiko a bit more grouchy than before, but at least she didn't try to sneak off. A mist that started to roll in, causing suspicion amongst the other workers who opted to leave for the rest of the day.

"Protect Tazuna-san." Kakashi yelled, as his three students jumped around Tazuna.

They heard chuckling, but couldn't place it. "Long time no see, eh Kakashi Hatake."

The mist cleared to reveal Zabuza's **Bunshin** surrounding them. Kakashi left it to Sasuke to take care of, allowing his student to show off again. Aiko wasn't too impressed, but wasn't going to say anything after being shot down earlier. Zabuza left Haku to do as he would with the three genin, and went after Kakashi himself.

Aiko and Sasuke drew Haku away from Sakura, both figuring that she wouldn't quite be ready to face Haku with them, and she would be able to keep Tazuna company throughout it. Haku attacked Sasuke first, testing how fast he was, but was soon interrupted when Aiko decided that she should be able to help out.

The others started thinking along the lines of 'even trying to be helpful, and it only seems to make things worse.'

Sasuke rolled his eyes at that, letting Aiko have her few minutes of fame, knowing very well that the only person that would have been able to keep up the whole time with Haku that time would have been Naruto. While all this was running through Sasuke's head, Haku had kicked Aiko back and kept her off, while performing a one handed jutsu. " **Sensatsu Suishō.** "

One thousand needles were aimed at both Aiko and Sasuke. Both focused chakra in their feet, releasing it in a jump to avoid being hit by any of the needles. Once having landed back on the ground, both Sasuke and Aiko moved faster than expected but still to slow to face Haku. Which is how Haku had gotten behind them, muttering that they wouldn't be able to face him with their level. Both Aiko and Sasuke had managed to hit Haku at the same time, sending him back a few feet, Aiko trying to take the credit for it. Sasuke, in his usual style, just ' _hnn_ 'ed.

Haku looked over the two, muttering to Zabuza about how he would need to end it quickly.

" **Makyō Hyōshō.** " Aiko and Sasuke could only watch as the ice mirrors started to form and create a dome. Haku stepped into one of the mirrors, a reflection of him appearing in each of the mirrors. "We shall begin."

Aiko and Sasuke glanced at each other and around the mirrors. "What's up with the mirrors?"

Haku murmured around them. "Let me show you my real sped."

He had started to throw senbon, intent on ending it quickly.

" **Hyōton: Hyōgan Dōmu.** " Before any senbon could meet their targets, a dome of ice appeared around Sasuke and Aiko.

Satoru appeared in half the mirrors, having taken over part of Haku's jutsu. "Hello again, hunter-nin."

Haku frowned behind the mask, not pleased at seeing the young boy. Although that didn't last too long, as he realized the implications of what it would mean if the boy could also use the same kekkei genkai as he could. But how would he be able to hold the dome around the other two, if he was in the mirrors. Haku looked around and saw two clones just outside the mirror dome. One clone was protecting the other that held the protective ice dome. _This boy can't have much chakra left if he has to hold that dome for too long. If I can just tire him out a little more._  
"Please leave them out of this, if it makes you feel better, than we shall leave them in there. They won't be able to interfere with our battle." Satoru looked at where the real Haku was, knowing how hard it actually was to try and hide yourself in the mirrors when an opponent knew the jutsu. Just like in his training with Kurama, he could never seem to be able to hide himself from the fox. Even though he was constantly reassured by Kurama that he wasn't cheating, he wasn't so sure.

Satoru cancelled the jutsu, knowing that Haku wouldn't be too happy about that. "This is odd for you, isn't it?"

"Very, seeing as how you have the bloodline from my family." Haku stared at the boy in front of him.

"Not the bloodline from the Yuki family." Satoru looked at Haku, not paying attention to anyone else. "A mutation of my own chakra that appears to be similar to that of the Yuki family. I was able to study some of their jutsus and am able to use them."

"Then why don't we see how good you really are then." Haku finished a hand sign, his attention never leaving Satoru. " **Hyōton: Tsurara Tsubame.** "

Satoru watched Haku jump in the air, watching the senbon coming towards him. He moved close to the dome holding Aiko and Sasuke, dodging all the senbon that Haku threw at him. After having landed, Satoru kept low to the ground, thankful for water and ice that was already there. " **Hyōton: Haryū Mōko.** " Satoru quickly finished the hand signs, knowing that in the short amount of time that it would take to create the ice tigers, he would need to re-establish the dome around Aiko and Sasuke, thankfully his clones were there so that he didn't need to entirely focus on the dome. " **Hyōton: Hyōgan Dōmu.** "

 **Why didn't you just create ice before?  
** _Well that came a bit late._

 **My chakra container is free, having pushed the Uchiha back while it closed over. The ice user is going to go after her.**

"Nee-chan!" Satoru watched as Aiko was being covered with ice. " _Nee-chan!_ "

" **Bakusai Hyōshō!** " Haku murmured, getting ready to throw his senbon.

Satoru let Kurama take control, already starting to freak out about what was going to happen to Aiko when the senbon hit. Kurama though, had already moved and was standing on top of the frozen block that trapped her. " **Suiton: Suijinheki!** "

Kakashi and Zabuza had momentarily stopped their fight at the sudden change in chakra feel and glanced over at the young boy standing on top of his trapped sister. All senbon that had been thrown were blocked, and surprising the people there, shocking them at how powerful the little one really was.

Kurama hopped off Aiko, gathering chakra before pushing it out of Satoru's legs and onto the now waterlogged ground. " **Samuke!** "

The water covering the ground instantly turned into ice, not shocking so much to Haku, but again surprising the other ninja. "You are a very surprising boy."

Satoru had been given back control, even though he didn't particularly want it at the moment. " _Please_ , release her." Satoru fell to his knees in front of Aiko. " _Please don't take her away from me!_ "

Haku looked over the boy carefully. "Why do you beg on the battlefield? At the time where you and your comrades are the most vulnerable. I could kill you now in front of them, scarring them, while they are trying not to let what they just saw affect them, and they too will die."

Satoru unable to last any longer, pulled Kurama's re-gathered chakra which started forming a cloak around his body. Three tails already having been formed.

 **Kit…!**

Satoru was gone, done listening to what was said by Haku, and charging at him with the speed that came with using Kurama's chakra. Swiping repeatedly at Haku, landing blow after blow upon the boy. " _NO ONE ELSE!_ "

One more hit saw Haku on the ground, out cold and nearly dead. Satoru had moved and now stood right behind Zabuza before they could blink. He had his arm reaching through Zabuza before anything else could be done. Moments after he had pulled his arm out, they heard ice shattering. Aiko was released from her prison, as was Sasuke. Satoru's clones having dispersed from Kurama's chakra overload.

Bringing their attention to another spot on the bridge was Sakura, who had let out a scream at having seen what Satoru had done. Aiko focused on her brother, taking in his form. "NO! OTOUTO CALM DOWN!"

Aiko looked over what her brother was becoming, thinking that it had only been her that had chakra sealed away inside her, and that Naruto had the soul. She glanced around at where the enemies were. Haku unconscious on the ground, and Zabuza leaning heavily on Kubikiribōchō. Moving closer to her brother, Aiko started calling out for him to calm down and that everything would be fine. Looking over her shoulder, she saw Sasuke shudder before moving closer to her. "Go over and help Sakura!" Aiko called as she rushed towards her brother, pulling him to her, even though she felt the pull that the chakra had on her. "Otouto… Please, Nii-san wouldn't have wanted this. He wouldn't want you to give into hate!"

Satoru managed to come to his senses, pulling Kurama's chakra back.

 **Finally Kit. It took you long enough.**

 _I almost lost her… Almost lost another…_

 **Kit, you are fine and she is fine. Worry later, they need you now.**

"I'm sorry Nee-chan. I'm so sorry." Satoru felt the tears falling down his cheeks, and couldn't stop them.

Aiko felt someone behind her, turning in shock when she saw Zabuza there. His sword arced towards the two siblings, almost ready hit them, before Kakashi blocked with a kunai, struggling while Aiko quickly took her brother to Sakura. "Look after him with your life."

"What are you going to do?" Sakura waited for a response, but not getting one. "Aiko-chan?"

Aiko moved away from her comrades, and closer to Kakashi and Zabuza, creating another defense around them with **Kage Bunshin.** All of them kept alert as they watched Kakashi and Zabuza continue to battle. Zabuza performed the **Kirigakure no Jutsu** again, Kakashi using his hounds to trap Zabuza to deliver the final shot. Zabuza laughed, glad that it was finally over, and found himself wondering what had become of his young apprentice.  
Kakashi moved slowly back over to his team, also glad that they had won one of the hardest battles that they had faced thus far. Aiko dispersed her clones and ran over to her still crying brother. "Otouto…"

Satoru clung to Aiko, just glad that he hadn't lost another sibling.

"So they're dead are they?" A voice called out over the distance from the other side of the bridge. "That just works out perfectly for me now."

"Gatō." Satoru murmured, before looking over at Haku's body laying between them. _He's still alive, Kurama._

 **Alright, Kit, but this isn't going to happen again.** Kurama took control of Satoru, jumping over to Haku and taking him back into the confines of their ranks.

"What are you doing?" Sakura screamed looking at Satoru.

" **Shut it.** " Kurama sat next to Haku and began to heal him just enough so that he wouldn't be able to move around very well, but would still survive. **He can heal himself later Kit.**

 _Thanks Kurama._

Aiko had summoned her clones again along with Kakashi and Sasuke, freaking out the bandits that were now outnumbered. Not letting Gatō get away though, Kakashi moved forward, killing the man who wouldn't leave the village in peace.

Tazuna breathed a sigh of relief at it all being over, and gladly helped them get each person back to his daughter's house.

 _ **{At Tsunami's Home.}**_

Satoru didn't leave Haku alone once they reached Tsunami's house. Aiko watched her brother, and the fallen ninja. They both needed something to eat, but Satoru wouldn't leave the ninja's side. And Haku himself was in no shape to move about yet.  
"Otouto. He'll be fine even if you leave him here."

 **It's fine Kit. Create a** **Kage Bunshin** **and I'll take care of him.**

Satoru looked at the Kurama controlled clone. "Thank you."

Satoru left with Aiko, grateful for the food that Tsunami had prepared for them. When Haku was well enough they would bring him down to help build his strength up. Satoru thought about what Haku was going to do after they were finished here. What his purpose was now.

"Thank you for the meal Tsunami-san." Satoru smiled at her, taking his plate to wash and going back to Haku.

 _Kurama?_ Satoru felt his clone disperse when he reached the door. He peaked inside to see Haku sitting up, his arms shaking in a defensive posture.

"Why did you not kill me?"

"I haven't killed before, why should I start with someone so pure?" Satoru held his arms up in an 'I surrender' kind of way. "I don't want to hurt you Haku-san, and I know that it isn't your intention to hurt me."

Haku's eyes narrowed at that. "Why should I trust you. You took away my purpose in this world."

"I can give you a new purpose." Satoru moved closer to Haku, allowing Kurama to take control to heal Haku properly this time. "That is, if you want."

The older male nodded his head, eyes facing away from the young boy in front of him, feeling as though he was betraying Zabuza. "What do you wish to have me do."

Satoru waited until the boy looked at him again. "I want to train with you, and get your help with finding Aniki."

Haku felt a small smile tug at his lips. "Will I get to stay by your side, Satoru-sama?"

"You can't call me Satoru-sama. We are on equal footing, and you won't want to stay with me for long after we reach Konoha."

"So what may I call you then?"

"Saru-san, Satoru-san. I don't mind."

"Thank you… Saru-san." Haku bowed his head, while Satoru kept trying to get him to let it go.

 _ **{Once the bridge is finished.}**_

Satoru stood next to Haku and Team seven with the exception of Aiko, who was standing in front of them with Inari. They watched both blubbering people crying, as it was alright to cry happy tears. "Hope to see you again soon!" Aiko called back as they started their journey back to Konoha.

 _ **{At the Hokage Office.}**_

The journey back had been uncomfortable to say the least, and it wasn't much better now. Minato had kept an eye on Haku and Satoru as he heard the variations of the report from each person. After hearing about Satoru's abilities, he figured part of the reason why Satoru had brought Haku back with him, but he knew that there was an ulterior motive to it.  
"Thank you. You may go, but Satoru-san and Haku-san, please stay behind." Minato waited until everyone had left and that no one else was going to hear them. "What was the other reason that you decided to bring a missing nin into our village, Satoru-san."

"Well, with Zabuza Momochi dead, Haku-san lost his purpose and I offered him a new one."

"What was it Satoru Uzumaki-Namikaze?"

Satoru hated when his father used his full name, it meant that he wasn't going to wait any longer for an answer before things happened. "Aniki is still alive!"

Minato jumped slightly at his words, but knowing that they couldn't be true. Minato looked over his son carefully, "what makes you think this?"

"Because there were people in Nami no Kuni that saw Aniki. They thought that I was him when I went there, and they said that he used **Mokuton** so how could it not be him?"

Minato looked at his son very seriously, knowing that what he said had serious implications of what had happened that night. "And that is also why you brought Haku-san back here?"

"On the side, he can help to look for Aniki. Please Hokage-sama, I know he's out there." Satoru had quietened waiting for an answer.  
Minato watched his son, considering what he had brought the ninja into the village for. "And if this is all a wild goose chase?"

"But it can't be."

" **He is right. Kid had a way with getting around things.** "

"Kurama, must you take control of my son?"

" **I am not going to hurt him. I cannot refute the words that I last heard from Kid.** "

Minato gave the demon a curious look.

" **As you know, he sealed me inside of Kit. He asked me to look after him just as I was forced out, and so I am not going to hurt him.** " Kurama, not having had control in the first place, settled back down and listened to Satoru argue with his father.

They eventually reached an agreement and Haku was allowed to become a ninja of the leaf, where the only other person that had a similar kekkei genkai as him lived. Although Minato was not going to allow Haku to go looking for his eldest, believing that it was just a goose chase.  
"Until we can build up the trust of the villagers, you will need to be kept under surveillance, and will not be sent on missions, or out of the village until such matters have been cleared." Haku bowed in thanks, and Satoru didn't stop him, following Haku and bowing his father. "Now as for you, your Kaa-san is going to be so grateful that you are alive. But as for getting into a fight with Haku-san, a ninja who is above your skill level, is dangerous Satoru-san, what would Kaa-san do if she lost another son? If she lost another family member?"

"She would probably make you sleep on the couch for a month as you sent me on the mission, and she also wouldn't stop crying for a long time." Satoru muttered, deciding not to look at his father at the moment.  
Minato nodded, glad that his son understood that she was going to be upset, but deciding that he would keep the fact that he was still going to be sleeping on the couch for a bit quiet. "Haku-san, please follow Bear-san."

Haku nodded and left behind the ANBU.

"You should know that we need Aniki." Satoru whispered into the silence. "The seal that he used to hold Kurama was only temporary. I think it was so that neither Kurama or I could be hurt in the process. But it's starting to unravel."  
"We'll need to have a look at it later." Minato moved to hold onto his son for a moment, but was left standing awkwardly as Satoru moved out of his reach, before looking dubiously at the pile of paperwork. "Alright, let's go home."

* * *

If anyone is wondering how Minato knows about Kurama being sealed inside of Satoru, the fact that he healed fast when he got hurt while being brought back to the village, and the fact that it was Kurama who took Satoru back home when they were telling him about Naruto, which confirmed it because he went through the front door and to where Minato and Kushina were sitting before giving control back to Satoru.

 **Hyōton: Tsurara Tsubame = Ice Release: Icicle Swallow** **  
**Hyōton: Haryū Mōko = Ice Release: Tearing Dragon Fierce Tiger  
 **  
**Sensatsu Suishō = Thousand Flying Water Needles of Death  
Hyōton: Hyōgan Dōmu = Ice Release: Ice Rock Dome of Magnificent Nothingness  
Makyō Hyōshō = Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals  
Makyō Hyōheki = Demonic Mirroring Ice Wall  
Bakusai Hyōshō = Blasting Ice Crystal  
Suiton: Suijinheki = Water Release: Water Formation Wall  
 **Samuke - Chill found in (** **. ?t=23242181** **)**

 **Kirigakure no Jutsu = Hiding in Mist Technique**

 **  
**Review(s)?


	10. Chapter 10

I'm so so so sorry that I didn't update before now, all I can really say for that is procrastination and exams (main reasons). As well as when you think you have a good idea and don't write it down, because you'll remember it in the morning, while you also know that you have a bad memory (excuse).

plums: no, it's just me writing this, in google docs which makes some line spacing look weird when I put it into fanfic.  
And as you can see I fail with: line spacing, paragraphs and carriage returns, etc. Although I am hoping that this turned out alright.

Jasmine I think you'll like this chapter a bit more than the others.

* * *

Speech thingys.

"Normal"

 _Normal Thought / Other Uses such as Talking_

 **Kurama**

 **Jutsu**

Thought to add the time brackets thing in here to -  
 _ **{Flashback or Time Jump / Different Places / Different People.}**_

* * *

 _ **{In the Hokage's Office.}**_

"Minato-san, you should really get all that paperwork finished." Jiraiya looked at the ever growing pile that his ex-student had to deal with.  
"If only you were Hokage for a day to experience this." Minato shook his head, getting his thoughts together.  
"So what did you call me for? I don't expect this to be some kind of social visit." The toad sage turned serious, knowing that Minato would have explained a little more than what he had in the message that he had sent, if it had been for something social.  
"I called you to help with Satoru-san's seal. According to him, the seal that Naruto-san used was only temporary, and it's starting to unravel." Minato stared at Jiraiya, hoping that he would help. "Because of what is happening to him, Kushina-chan would worry, and she doesn't need to yet. So I would like it if you could not let her know what is happening right now. I have already advised Satoru-san to do the same."  
"Alright, but I hope you know what you're getting yourself into should your wife find out. 'Cause once she does, I'm not sticking around to find out." Jiraiya smirked before hopping out the window and heading towards one of the bath houses.  
Minato sighed watching the man go. "One day he will get himself killed peeping."  
A knock at the door brought his attention back to the present. "Come in."  
"Tou-san…" Naoko stepped into the room. Minato took in his daughter's worried expression. "What's going to happen to Sato-san?"  
"Why do you ask?"  
"Because Kaa-chan was looking at the seal before, and Sato-san didn't want her to. And now she won't leave Sato-san alone or stop crying or keeping him near her. Ume-nee and Aiko-nee are worried and didn't want to leave her or Tsuda-san alone."  
Minato smiled gently, proud at how his sensitive daughter hadn't started crying yet. "Satoru-san is going to be fine, and to help your Kaa-chan, you can tell her that Jiraiya-jii is here to help." Minato watched as Naoko ran back to their home, before moving back to the pile of paperwork, that he noticed had been added to since he had last looked.

 _ **{At the Namikaze-Uzumaki Household.}**_

Naoko knew that her father had the solution and was glad that she had gone to see him, and to see him proud of her. She wasn't the most outgoing of her sisters, or her siblings. The only other one to rival her in that was Satoru. Although that only seemed to start happening when Naruto died. Thinking about the brother that she didn't know, didn't get to know. Naoko had wished that she had gotten to know him better when she just thought that he was a classmate of her sister's. "Stop thinking about what can't be changed. Just think about the people you have now."  
Naoko moved faster through the house to find her Kaa-chan. Once she had found them, she rushed to her mother's side. "Kaa-chan, Jiraiya-jii is here. Tou-san said that he was going to help."  
Kushina looked over her daughter, thanking her for the information. "What would you like for dinner tonight, Nao-chan?"  
"Yakitori!"  
"Even though we only had it nights ago?" Kushina smiled slightly. "Alright."

 _ **{Unknown Location.}**_

"Are you sure that you want to go back?"  
A young boy smirked at the question. He looked up at his two companions. Kisame Hoshigaki and Itachi Uchiha. "You already know who you cannot touch, don't you?"  
Both nodded at the killing intent they felt coming from the boy in question. "So shall we be on our way?"

 _ **{Inside the Village.}**_

Kakashi stood outside a tea shop, waiting for two customers to leave. Kurenai and Asuma started walking towards him. "Are you two on a date?"  
"No. I'm getting sweets for Anko-chan." Kurenai responded, along with the silent baka in her head.  
"What about you Kakashi? Are you picking up sweets too?" Asuma watched the man glance inside at two of the customers.  
"I'm waiting for Sasuke-san."  
"Usually it's the other way around." Asuma stated, as they both took notice of a shift in the customers.  
"Kakashi-sensei, it's a little unusual for you to arrive first." Sasuke muttered as he walked up to his sensei. He started to look where everyone else was looking, but it was empty. Kakashi sent a look to both Kurenai and Asuma, both who left in an instant. Kakashi sighed, motioning for Sasuke to follow him, taking him as far away from where he may run into the strangers as possible.

 _ **{By the River.}**_

Itachi kept his head bowed for a few minutes. "It's been a long time… Asuma-san. Kurenai-san."  
"So you know who we are." Asuma stated, looking at the shorter man of the two. "You were a shinobi of this village…?"  
Both Kurenai and Asuma were shocked when the man took his veil off. "You're Itachi Uchiha."  
Kisame feeling left out to the side, decided to reveal himself as well. "As you already know about Itachi-san, I suppose that I should introduce myself… I'm Kisame Hoshigaki."

 _ **{At Naruto's Secluded House.}**_

The young man walked closer and closer to the place that he had once considered home. The place that his Otouto was at the moment. He cast a genjutsu on the boy to keep him asleep while fixing the seal that he had placed on the boy before he had died. "Keep taking care of him…"

 _ **{At the River.}**_

"You two are S ranked criminals in the bingo book. But you must be pretty brave to come back here."  
"Do not interrupt my affairs unless you wish to die." Itachi stood still, blocking out any noise coming from Asuma, really only tuning back in when Kisame decided to step in.  
"He wants to die, doesn't he Itachi-san?"  
Itachi eyed Samehada, who had been taken off Kisame's back and now rested in his hand. "Do what I say… They can't make it back to the village, but you aren't to do anything excessive."  
Kisame smirked, moving Samehada to strike Kurenai, to have been blocked by Asuma with his chakra blades. Kurenai seeing her chance, cast a genjutsu. Asuma took the brunt of Kisame's attack, which caused Samehada to cut his upper arm.  
Kurenai was behind Itachi, holding him in her genjutsu, only to be shocked a moment later when Itachi was standing free and she was caught in her own trap. "That level of genjutsu is to weak to work on me."  
Working to counter the jutsu, Kurenai bit her lip. Freeing herself, but getting kicked onto the river. "As expected of Kurenai-san."  
"This is it."  
Itachi shifted slightly, calling for Kisame to move over to him. Looking at the bloodlust in his partners eyes, Itachi sighed. "Remember why we came here."  
"Would you tell us why you came here?" Kakashi appeared on the edge of the river holding Kurenai, figuring that it would be a long shot for Itachi to answer his question. It was only moments later that Guy appeared next to him.  
"We came here looking for something."  
Kakashi raised an eyebrow, more alert than before, as was Guy, who had altogether stopped looking at Itachi's eyes. Itachi held shuriken in his right hand, while Kakashi had a wall of water surround him, to protect himself and Guy - not that he needed it - from Itachi's jutsu.  
"Your eye is quite remarkable." Itachi's clone stood behind Kakashi. "Isn't that right?"  
Kakashi's **Mizu Bunshin** dropped back into the water from where it came while Guy was moving towards Itachi.  
Kurenai thought that it was good that Kakashi had been able counter Itachi's jutsu and was wondering why Guy was moving towards an empty space. So that she could be more helpful Kurenai decided to make a move but was stopped with Kakashi taking her back to the walkway while the clone they saw in front of them exploded.  
"That caused too much noise." Every head turned to the new comer, wearing the same black cloak with red clouds as Kisame and Itachi. Only this person still had on his veil.  
"There were three?" Kurenai sounded shocked.  
"But where did he come from?" Asuma looked over the new person standing there. He stood as though he had just come in from the village.  
"Have you finished?" Kisame asked as he appeared next to the shortest male of the group.  
"Long ago. I thought I might take a stroll around, but then I heard an explosion. I figured I'd come to clean up the mess you made before anyone else can get here." The smallest had turned to face Itachi. "You talked about having the less excessive way of dealing with things. So I suggest that you hurry up."  
Itachi sighed, listening to the boy, surprising the leaf ninjas.  
' _So he's in charge._ ' Ran through the minds of the leaf shinobi. Kakashi looked back at Itachi who had changed his sharingan. "Do not look into his eyes, and keep yours shut!"  
"That was fast Kakashi-san. But even your sharingan cannot stand against my **Tsukuyomi**. Only one with kekkei genkai could." Itachi stepped away closing his eyes when he hears Kakashi fall on the water. Kurenai and Asuma opened their eyes and caught a glimpse of Itachi's eyes, that was all it took for them to fall under **Tsukuyomi** as well. The only contender left was Guy who had three jōnin to place on the walkway in his top speed as to not allow the three intruders to escape. Kisame tightened his grip on Samehada, itching to fight Konoha's self-proclaimed 'Sublime Green Beast of Prey'.  
"Make it snappy then, Kisame." The boy spoke again, this time though to those that could hear, his voice sent shivers up their spines. Almost as though the boy himself was dancing on their graves. It was Kisame who made the first move and already the boy could see the outcome of this round-a-bout little fight. He sighed but allowed for Kisame to have what little enjoyment he found in fighting strong opponents. While Kisame and Guy were clashing, none other than Minato showed up, causing the leader to tense. Itachi noticed this, calling for Kisame to drop back again. They stood facing each other for no longer than a two second eternity, before the shortest one that had remained silent until now, started making the hand signs for **Suiton: Mizu Kamikiri.** In the distraction that this caused, the boy along with the other two intruders had disappeared before they could get into a serious fight with the Hokage.

 _ **{Unknown Location.}**_

Itachi and Kisame watched the boy walk ahead of them. The annoyance he felt with the two showing in everything that he was doing. "So what were you doing in there?"  
Itachi looked at the stupid man, wondering if he had a death wish at the moment. "Fixing something that can't be tampered with, unless they want to kill the only thing they have keeping the other villages at bay."  
The boy looked back at Itachi. "Did your brother see you?"  
"I wouldn't compromise the reason for going there." Both stood still as the boy standing in front of them removed the black cloak and veil, giving them back to Itachi. "Only why did you need to borrow these?"  
"So that they wouldn't find out about what was going on, or who I was. Although the Hokage might know that it was me there, especially once he checks his son." The boy thanked them both then before disappearing to who knows where.  
Kisame and Itachi just kept walking forwards.

 _ **{Later at the Namikaze-Uzumaki Household.}**_

Satoru sat in the lounge with Jiraiya and Minato. All three were staring at the seal on Satoru's stomach. "It's fixed! How can it have just suddenly fixed itself?"  
Satoru looked at his father and godfather, they all shared looks, before Jiraiya and Minato copied down the seal. Kushina having heard this was ecstatic. Her baby was going to be okay.  
" **You should be warned that it is still only temporary.** " Minato looked at Satoru.  
"What do you mean Kurama?"  
" **One of the intruders today was there when Kit was training.** "  
"Why didn't you say so before!" Kushina yelled, wanting to hit Kurama, but not being able to because he was her son's body, and she wasn't intentionally going to hurt him more than she already had.  
" **I did not see the need. The intruder cast a genjutsu that put Kit to sleep, and fixed the seal holding me in here.** " Kurama explained, the annoyance he held for these people evident in his tone.  
 _But you were in control then, so how did you not see them? And you could have easily taken them on._ Satoru asked, a few minutes before Minato basically asked the same thing.  
" **I know that I could have easily taken them on, had they not done something to your body, Kit. And I don't think they would have done anything to the seal if they had not known what to do.** "  
Minato and Jiraiya looked over the seal again, sending Kushina out to deal with all the prying eyes that didn't need to be there. "There's something odd about this seal."  
"What would that be Jiraiya-sama?" Minato looked over the writings that Jiraiya had started making next to his copy of the seal.  
"As you can see, here in my copy, even though it looks close to Sato-san's, there is a difference between this part of the formula and this one of mine." Minato moved his copy next to Jiraiya's as well. Noticing that his was different from both of the other two. "As well as in your copy. It makes it so that only one person can reform the seal."  
"And the person would have to be the one who placed it there in the first place." Minato's eyes grew wide, knowing that it meant that his eldest child would still have to be alive to be able to do such a thing. "Then this definitely confirms that it was him at the river today…"  
Jiraiya looked at Minato and saw how happy the man was at his eldest son still being alive, not really wanting to burst that bubble, but knowing that it still needed to be said even if it was the obvious thing to say. "It also means that he's part of Akatsuki. An organization that is capturing jinchūriki."  
"What is their goal?" Kushina stared down at Jiraiya.  
"That is something that is not yet known." Jiraiya moved back ever so slightly from the intimidating woman, thinking about the oldest, renegade son. "But why would Naruto-san fake his own death, and seal Kurama inside of his younger brother before joining the Akatsuki?"  
Jiraiya took note to ask Minato what had happened between them over the time that he wasn't in the village, when he saw the darkened look on both Minato and Kushina's faces.  
" **He didn't. Once your mind goes, your body follows fast behind.** " Kurama interrupted his train of thought, but brought all their attention to what he had just admitted.  
"And how do you know that Kurama?"  
" **Because Kid isn't the only one to have known that jutsu to manipulate time.** "  
Minato narrowed his eyes, while a curious Jiraiya looked on. "And how would you know this?"  
Kurama sighed, now extremely annoyed at the people who couldn't seem to catch on to very subtle hints about how Naruto would have learnt about the jutsu. " **Because I know the jutsu and taught it to him. Not only that, some people stumble across the jutsu and learn it themselves. But whenever someone overuses it without having an anchor, their mind crumbles and their body follows suit, and both disappear into nothing. Although it doesn't matter how much you use the jutsu, the end result is the same.** "  
"What do you mean by that?"  
" **It means, that whether you use it once in your life to using it everyday, your mind is still going to crumble and your body will follow suit.** "  
Satoru had control then, allowing Kurama to fume over the fact that the old man couldn't understand what was being said. _So because I entered the jutsu with Aniki does that mean the same thing will happen to me?  
_ **I don't know Kit, you are the first person that I have met that has been able to slip in and out of the jutsu on their own. Most of the other times that other people than the caster have been in the jutsu, they were able to… piggy back - for lack of a better term - into the jutsu with the caster. But best not tell your mother and father that you have been inside the jutsu while not knowing what would happen to you.  
** Satoru moved on the couch, allowing his shirt to fall back down. "Umm, Tou-san?" Satoru waited until he had their attention again, wanting to see what his father would say to his question, having already heard Kurama's take on it. "If Aniki really did die, then how is he here now?"  
"Could someone have used **Kuchiyose: Edo Tensei**?"  
"There could only be one person who would know how to do that."  
" **You two are missing the point.** "  
"And what would that be Kurama?" Minato asked through clenched teeth.  
" **Kid was very much alive. Not reanimated.** " Kurama stared at both of the males. " **It is very likely that he will never want to see this village again, and will try to get Kit out of here before actually doing anything. And so that we are completely clear on this subject, if I need to, I will take Kit out of here and to Kid.** "

 _ **{With Naruto.}**_

Naruto laughed at what was being said about him. He was very glad now that he fixed the seal on his younger brother, adding to it another seal that had been hidden. It would act as his link to hearing their plans. The part of the sealing formula that they thought was the part that made it so only he was able to do anything to the seal was actually the part that allowed him to hear their conversations. But should anyone who didn't know the seal inside out like he did, well, they would be gone within minutes. "Well I suppose it's a good thing that they aren't going to try to tamper with the seal."  
Naruto pushed off his rock, unintentionally shattering it into smaller pieces, as he headed towards Sunagakure. Laughing every once in awhile at what was happening back in Konoha.

Naruto appeared next to Gaara in the Kazekage's private office. "Gaara-kun!"  
Gaara winced at the loudness of his friend. "I know that you're only loud around me. But remind me why again?"  
"Cause you brought back the broken child, and he ended up like this?" Naruto bounced around Gaara's desk for a minute.  
"So did you fix the seal?"  
"Of course." Naruto turned serious for a second as he thought about the implications of Gaara's words. Then going back to the usual exuberant self he had around Gaara, he added, "I've also added in a seal so that I would be able to keep an eye on him should I need to. Smart don't you think?"  
Gaara raised an eyebrow. "More like an invasion of privacy."  
Naruto folded his arms. "Party pooper. And it's not like I'd use it everyday."  
Gaara sighed, turning his head back to his work. "One day this will all come back to bite you on the rear."  
"I know. But I'm trying for him."  
Gaara stayed silent, deciding to continue with his work as Naruto went to sleep in the corner.

 _ **{A Week Later. In Konoha.}**_

Minato looked over to Haku who had come in to ask about starting to spend more time around Satoru. It had been a week under surveillance without getting to see his new purpose for life. Haku stood in the most non-threatening way that he knew how, slightly turned in on himself with his head slightly bowed. "Hokage-sama, I would like to spend more time with Satoru-san. It has been a week since we last spoke, and I would be grateful if you would allow me this wish."  
Minato studied the boy in front of him, the reports that he had gotten from the ANBU that would watch over him in rotations all said that he was quite docile. Whenever they had started to get fidgety around the curfew that had been assumed, he would start on the way back to his house, really though, he knew it was an elaborate cage so that they would be able to keep him under watch. When Minato had read that, he had pondered how far ahead Haku would go as a shinobi of the leaf village, he was already more than certified to be an ANBU for his skills as a shinobi.  
An afterthought of Haku not wanting to continue being a shinobi had wormed its way to the front of Minato's mind as well. After all that Haku had seen and done it wouldn't be a surprise if he had wanted to live the life that a civilian lived. "You are able to visit Satoru-san under the supervision of the ANBU as expected, but should you wish to come along with Satoru-san, Jiraiya-sama and myself to Sunagakure in the morning then you would be welcomed to join us."  
Minato had spoken slowly, watching for the reaction that it would bring from Haku. The smile that was brought to his face wasn't quite the reaction that Minato was expecting, but then he wasn't sure what to expect from Haku. Although it made Minato nervous when Haku bowed and replied "I am very grateful Hokage-sama."  
Minato told Haku to stand properly, since he was becoming uncomfortable with how long Haku would bow to him. "The conditions of you coming to Suna will be the same as what you have had here. You will be accompanied by an ANBU member, what they have deemed that you need to do inside of the boundaries that they have, you are to follow. You will need to be back in your room by sunset. Since we will also be in another country I expect that you shall remain on the behaviour that you have been exhibiting throughout the week."  
"Hai Hokage-sama." Haku only bowed his head this time while looking back up quickly, being dismissed from the Hokage's office and off to pack for the trip in the morning.

 _ **{Three Days Later. In Suna.}**_

Naruto stood next to Gaara with his hair and face covered, his chakra level at zero so that he wouldn't be discovered, while Gaara's chakra would mask whatever traces there might have been left. The reason was that Gaara was entertaining leaf shinobi, and wanted Naruto to be there as an advisor. They would talk using the code that the two had made when Gaara had brought Naruto back. Naruto gave Gaara a small head tilt, and Gaara took comfort in the fact that his best friend was there. The only thing that would shock his friend was the person who was coming, which Gaara had decided to leave out. "Thank you for coming all this way. Lord Fourth. Jiraiya-sama"  
Naruto was still as a statue, before going off at Gaara. _Why didn't you tell me about this? I was only ten days ago and you don't feel the need to bring up the fact the the Hokage is coming here? As well as the fact that there is a Sannin here?  
_ "Because you wouldn't have stayed if you knew, would you?" Gaara looked at his advisor, bringing Minato and Jiraiya's attention to him. Gaara looked back at Minato and Jiraiya, "I'm sorry, it seems that my advisor is being picky today. As to why you came here, what was it that you so importantly needed to tell me?"  
Minato looked over at the advisor.  
"It is alright, nothing that is going to be said will leave this room." Gaara assured them.  
Minato looked back at Gaara. "We have come to tell you Kazekage-sama, about the return of my eldest son Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze, he has somehow come back from the dead, without the use of **Kuchiyose: Edo Tensei**. Only days ago, Naruto-san was seen in Konohagakure wearing the black cloak of the Akatsuki-"  
"If you'll excuse my interruption, was your son actually seen in the Akatsuki uniform?" Gaara asked, staring at the Hokage for a minute.  
"Well, no one saw the face of the third member. But it could have only been my son, as Kurama told us that a member came and fixed the seal that was holding him my son." Minato paused, waiting to see if the Kazekage was going to ask a question. "We found a mark on the seal that changed as we tried to write copies of the seal. But it is unique only to Naruto-san."  
"As it would seem Lord Fifth, that Naruto-san is a dangerous ninja. And the seal…" Jiraiya started, looking at Minato as to whether he should go on.  
"Yes, Naruto-kun told me about the seal. He explained it to me in detail, wanting someone to be able to help his younger brother if he ever died this time." Gaara looked at the motions that his advisor was making. The two older ninja were utterly confused as to what the man was trying to say, as there seemed to be just random movements that were hardly ever repeated, and yet as they watched the young Kazekage, they knew he knew exactly what the mysterious man was saying. They saw the Kazekage smile a little or shake his head in places and were wondering how the person could see past the veil. "Thank you for the warning, Lord Fourth and Jiraiya-sama. If you do not mind, my advisor and I need to discuss this a little more privately, but we shall reconvene soon if that is alright with you?"  
Minato nodded, leaving the room with Jiraiya. Gaara had waited until he got a nod from Naruto. "What were you thinking going with the Akatsuki to Konoha? They think that you're affiliated with that group now."  
"It was fine Gaara, I needed some cover and they just happened to be going there. Nothing bad was done, and they know what is going to happen should they touch him. But they don't know about the seal."  
"That wasn't very smart for someone who is considered to be a very smart person you know." Gaara sat down with a sigh escaping his lips. Naruto sitting opposite him.  
"Where would I be without you?"  
"In a lot more trouble." Gaara stayed silent after that, thinking about what he was going to have to tell the Hokage.

Naruto kept his veil on this time as he was wandering around Suna, keeping watch for two people that he didn't want to see. And not being particularly able to see, he had just bumped into a little kid, who seemed to have a very protective friend with them. "I'm sorry. Are you alright?"  
Naruto nodded and backed away from the two, after hearing the voice he knew that the other two wouldn't be far behind. He ran straight back to Gaara's office, appearing next to said person again. _He's here Gaara-kun! Are they stupid? The Akatsuki are going to come after him!  
But you said that they knew what was going to happen to them if they touched Satoru Uzumaki-Namikaze.  
I don't know if Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki have made it known to the others! Besides, it's their mission to get Kurama, and for all they knew, they weren't allowed to touch Otouto just that one time. It could be fair game now! _A stressful Naruto wasn't something that Gaara wanted to deal with. If what happened last time was any indication, then this time it was going to be so much worse.  
 _Naruto-kun, before you start blowing things up, can we move you outside of the village?_  
Naruto peered at Gaara for a moment longer than he should have needed to, disappearing from Gaara's office. Gaara sighed until he heard an explosion close to the village. "He could have gone further away than that."  
Minato looked at the young boy. "Is everything going to be alright, Kazekage-san?"  
Gaara nodded, turning attention back towards Minato, Jiraiya, and the newcomers, one that Gaara recognized as Satoru from all that Naruto had told him, but the other he was not sure about. "Who might you be?"  
The boy looked to the Satoru before turning back to face him. "My name is Haku."  
Gaara nodded and turned back to Minato and Jiraiya. "Why have you brought Satoru Uzumaki-Namikaze with you here?"  
Another explosion sounded just outside the village.  
"If there was anyone after my son, I want to be able to protect him. And it is good, because then Jiraiya-sama can also help with training Sato-san to protect himself. Haku is here to help in training Sato-san with his kekkei genkai, and for company while we were in these meetings."  
Gaara looked at the young boys. "Did you wish to come to find Naruto-kun?"  
Satoru's eyes widened when he heard Gaara talking about his Aniki. "Do you know where he is now?"  
Gaara didn't respond to the question, making Minato and Jiraiya suspicious. It was only when they heard an explosion that sounded as though it was coming from inside the village, that they saw Gaara start to some worry. "Something's wrong, he wouldn't come into the village until he had calmed down… I'm sorry, I need to go."

Gaara moved beside Naruto. His veil had long blown off, revealing him to his family, Jiraiya and Haku that stood at the top of the Kazekage office. Gaara saw the blood running from various cuts on body. Naruto glanced at his friend. "I managed to…"  
Gaara waited for Naruto to continue, but could see that he was looking to the outer edges of Suna, where he could see something flying towards them.  
"The one on the ground uses poisons…" Naruto was trying to catch his breath, but started failing. "Just give it a minute…"  
Gaara placed a hand on his back, supporting him. "The one on the ground… how many times were you cut?" Naruto held out both hands, showing Gaara seven. "Allow me to protect what is important to me."  
Naruto held onto Gaara's arm, not letting go as his strength started to return. "I may not be at full strength... but you are not fighting against... two Akatsuki members."  
"What makes you think that I would allow someone precious to me to do the same?" Gaara was about to move Naruto back, but they both knew that in a few minutes that could change everything, Naruto was going to be able to fight at his full strength. And the glare that he was giving Gaara convinced him otherwise. "I'll go for the one of the ground if you think that you can handle the one with explosive clay?"  
Gaara's lips tilted slightly in a smile. "Don't do anything too rash."  
"You know me better than that." So with that said, Naruto disappeared from the Kazekage's side, leaving him to deal with the threat flying straight for him.

* * *

I know there are going to be a few more questions and holes which, obviously, I haven't picked up on, but in the next chapter from where there were inconsistencies and such from when I had Minato and Kushina talking to Satoru, I have a plan to hopefully clear that up.

The other thing that I wanted to say was, there will be a little bit of silence on my part now so that I can try to catch up with my chapters.

Let me know what you think…

 **Mizu Bunshin** = Water clone

 **Tsukuyomi** = Moon reader

 **Kuchiyose: Edo Tensei** = Summoning: Impure world reincarnation


	11. Chapter 11

Sorry for the long wait. I'm hoping that this explains some things, while others will be explained better hopefully within the next few chapters.

* * *

Speech thingys.

"Normal"

 _Normal Thought / Other Uses such as Talking_

 **Kurama**

 **Jutsu**

Thought to add the time brackets thing in here to -  
 _ **{Flashback or Time Jump / Different Places / Different People.}**_

* * *

 _ **{Sunagakure Entrance.}**_

Naruto stood looking at the man that had tried to poison him minutes ago. He watched the puppet carefully, trying to find any weak points before he could help the other member to kidnap Gaara. "How are you not dead?"  
Naruto shrugged, not really wanting to say anything to the enemy.  
"In any case, you stand in the way of my goal." Naruto heard the laugh and shuddered slightly. "At least this will be fun."  
The puppets tail shot towards a smirking Naruto. "It won't affect me anymore."  
"The poison may not, but being struck through the heart certainly will affect you." Naruto looked at the puppet as the tail got closer and closer. "I'm glad that you're making this all too easy."

He smirked as the tip of the tail touched the area just above his heart. "It isn't going to affect me, but by all means, please continue trying to attack."

The tail kept striking around the area of the heart, all the while little cracks were starting to appear in the metal. One last hit to Naruto's chest caused the end of the tail to shatter, the blonde smirked at the puppet that was now emitting large amounts of killing intent.  
Naruto glance over the shoulder of the puppet, watching while two figures were making their way towards his battle. He rolled his eyes at the familiar chakra signatures, appearing behind the puppet, hitting it once and causing the thing to crumble around the man inside. "Well, well. Looks like I couldn't keep you two away from Otouto."  
Naruto glared at Itachi and Kisame, as Sasori had moved to keep Naruto between him and the other two members that had just shown up. "I think we should kill him this time, don't you think so Itachi-san?"  
Itachi looked at Naruto with his sharingan, already having figured what his greatest weakness would be. Naruto couldn't stop himself from being caught in Itachi's genjutsu.

 _ **{Inside the Genjutsu}**_

Naruto looked at Satoru and Tsuda playing happily. He knew that Tsuda was never going to be to blame in his messed up life and he wouldn't truly be able to hate the child. That is until he realized that Tsuda was looking at him and smiling in the way that he had seen his sister smile. That smile then turned into a smirk when he saw Satoru pull him away, seemingly having forgotten about him, ignoring him as his biological parents had. Tsuda though, acted as Aiko had once around him, but the hate in his eyes was new, that was something he had only seen in the villagers eyes. The hate that had followed him around when he stepped out into the village for seven years, that would always leave a scar on his soul.  
"Otouto…" Naruto felt tears running down his cheeks. The one person from before he'd died that he had thought would never betray him just had. And what had been holding his heart together, just broke.

 _ **{Outside the Genjutsu.}**_

Itachi looked at the boy in front of him, slowly sink to his knees. Some of the chakra that he could feel the boy giving off stopped, he saw Kisame move forwards towards the boy, Samehada in his right hand, uncovered. When he swung down it cut through some of the boy's flesh, but not enough before an arm was blocking it. Itachi showed no surprise even though he felt it, at someone breaking free from his genjutsu without be being able to sense any chakra.  
When Naruto turned to face him, he saw all the power that was held in him, and now there was nothing holding the boy back from anything. He watched Kisame tremble, never having thought that it would be possible. He saw a shiver run through Sasori, also never having thought that possible of the human puppet. His own body quaked when he looked back at Naruto and sensed the chakra now leaking out of him.  
"You've done well, making me think about what is going to happen in the future." Naruto had moved so fast that it was only a second at the most that it had taken him to cross the distance to Itachi to mutter in his ear. "So to thank you, I will give you a fast death."

Itachi was too slow. With one blow to the neck, and he was dead.

 _ **{On the Kazekage Office.}**_

Satoru watched as Gaara was battling a long blonde haired man. It had seemed that Gaara was winning for the moment. But that no longer drew his attention, it was the large amounts of chakra that he could feel coming from the entrance. Minato had looked over that way as well, not focusing too much on the fight at hand. It was almost too late when he saw a large clay bomb falling towards the village. " **Hiraishin!** "  
Transporting next to Gaara to get at the giant bomb, Minato quickly dove after it, placing a hand on it, and transporting it to a place that he had marked outside the village. Just after Minato returned next to the Kazekage, they heard two explosions.  
Gaara froze when he felt Naruto's chakra. There was nothing holding him back anymore. He looked as his enemy was quivering, in the direction of where his partner was. Gaara did not entirely care about the battle with man before him now, instead speeding off towards his friend.

 _ **{With Naruto.}**_

Naruto felt Gaara getting closer after that explosion. He laughed when he saw Kisame and Sasori stand back up. "So you haven't died yet. You're making this really fun, but how much longer will you last?"  
Naruto stalked towards Kisame, holding in his hand the edited version of his father's **rasengan**. " **Katon: Kaze Supaiku Rasenshuriken**." The blazing ball of fire and wind spikes consumed the blue skinned man, only just managing to miss the human-puppet as he jumped clear and escaped. Naruto was watching a very angry Gaara as the wall of sand protecting Suna started to crumble around him. "There is still one more."  
Gaara nodded as the anger inside of him didn't subside any. "He shall come this way, it is the way that his partner has left, and where a Jinchūriki stands."  
He wasn't wrong, and soon, Deidara appeared above them on his clay bird, at what remained of the entrance to Suna. His mouth was wide open at the destruction, and at the fact that the blonde haired boy standing next to the Kazekage, had taken down Itachi and Kisame while taking on Sasori at the same time. When his gaze met that of the boys, he felt himself start to tremble, and was already flying away, but not fast enough as he saw a flash of blonde in front of him, before the sensation of freefalling took over and pain.  
"Maybe you should be left alive as well." Deidara looked into the wild cerulean eyes before him. "Send a message to your 'leader' about messing with Naruto, and giving up on your stupid quest for the bijū."  
Naruto kicked the last Akatsuki member from the entrance to Suna as far as he could into the distance, returning to Gaara's side to face the wrath of endangering Suna.

Gaara pulled Naruto along by the ear as he continued to walk through the villagers who kept getting in the way. Considering the last bout where Gaara had threatened to separate a limb from his body if he ever did anything to endanger the village again, they were quite surprised that Naruto still had all his limbs intact. It was only when Naruto caught sight of Satoru in the crowd that he started to fight against the hold that Gaara had him in. Gaara, who did not imparticularly care about Naruto fighting him more now, just kept on pulling him until they had reached the safety of his office. "Do you wish to explain what that was all about?"

"I have seen the truth of Satoru Uzumaki-Namikaze." Naruto looked at Gaara with steely eyes.  
"What did they show you?" Gaara knew that it would have been important as Naruto only ever talked about his brother affectionately, never speaking about him in the way that he did his parents.  
"He's just like everyone else, Gaara-kun. He's just like they were." Naruto still had the wild look in his eyes, a cause for fear from Gaara. "Abandoned again in favour of another family member who was like the villagers. They can't be trusted Gaara-kun, they just can't!"

Naruto pulled his legs close to his body, wrapping his arms around them and rocking back and forth slightly. Gaara knelt next to him, giving him the one thing everyone denied him, a hug. "You still know what is going to happen don't you?"  
Naruto whimpered slightly, looking at Gaara from the corner of his eye. "When do I have to get started? And when are you chopping off limbs?"

 _ **{Three Years Ago. Unknown Location.}**_

It was too bright for the red headed boy. He was squinting against the light as he moved forwards, heading in whatever direction that his feet were taking him. He was wandering around for what would have seemed like never ending days if there was change to the light at all, before he eventually sat down and started sobbing. Another age passed before he felt a hand on his shoulder, and looked up into cerulean eyes. "Where are we?" Gaara choked out.  
"We aren't anywhere. Not alive, not entirely dead yet." Gaara looked away from the cerulean eyes, taking in the form of the rest of the person. A blonde haired boy with a nice smile. "We still have things to do. Otherwise we wouldn't be here, in this place."  
"Who are you?" Gaara sniffled a little.  
"My name is Naruto." Naruto took a seat beside the crying boy. "Now why don't you tell me what happened so that you ended up here."

Gaara rubbed his eyes, trying to stop more tears escaping. "Well... there was an attack planned by the Kazekage, my father, to destroy Konohagakure during the chuunin exams… They were just using me again. Their ultimate weapon! Then during the attack… they didn't think that anyone was going to be able to defeat me… I believed it too… Now I'm here and scared… but they didn't get what they deserved for what they did to me…"  
Naruto slung his arm around Gaara's shoulders, looking more than sad to the red head. "You've had it pretty rough haven't you."  
Gaara didn't answer as he knew that it wasn't a question, but wondered about what had happened to the blonde to make him so sad.  
"You know, a wise being once told me that he was misunderstood too. But that it wasn't going to solve anything trying to get back at the people who did you wrong. No matter how much you wanted it to. But he made a good point, 'what will be left for you after you've gotten your revenge?' He gave me a long time to think about that… So what do you think is left?"  
Gaara looked at the boy beside him in awe. "There isn't anything left… except an empty feeling…"  
"And once that's all gone… You go numb, and it's hard to come away from that." Naruto glanced at the red haired boy. "Now I'm not saying that you need to forgive them. But give a chance to the ones that haven't hurt you yet. It's not easy. And I doubt that there is anyone who will tell you that it is."  
Naruto stood up, helping Gaara to stand as well before leading him in away in the direction that he had started walking from. When they stopped Naruto smiled widely at him, "remember Gaara, there are people there who do care for you. Allow them in, okay?"

Gaara stirred a little, noting that his siblings were supporting him. "I'm sorry."  
Temari gave Kankuro a shocked look, wondering just how affected their brother had been.

 _ **{Present Time. With Naruto.}**_

Naruto was waiting for the highest peak for people to come out in the day. Gaara stood behind him with Temari and Kankuro. Temari was laughing at the get up that he was forced into, by her own hands. Kankuro just smirked, loving the fact that there was something that could make the blonde fiend embarrassed. They weren't going to let him out of this. "Gaara, don't be so cruel! It feels to breezy!"  
"You should have thought better of destroying the village entrance then!" Kankuro responded while laughing at the blonde. "This is better than having any limbs chopped off though, right?"  
"No! Chopping my arm off or something would have been better than wear this maid outfit while cleaning the entrance!"  
Temari laughed while pushing Naruto out into the crowd, calling out behind him to remain in character. He could hear her laugh as he walked through the streets at all the staring eyes.  
"So much worse than losing a limb." Naruto forced a smile as he held his head high, figuring that as soon as this was done, he was going to have his revenge on the three siblings. And maybe on the men that were cat-calling.

 _ **{With Satoru.}**_

Satoru watched his brother walk through the streets of Sunagakure in the ridiculous maid outfit, wondering just how far his adored older brother could fall. As discreetly as he could he followed the older blonde to the village's entrance. Satoru watched in silence as he started to clear the rubble from the path. After watching Naruto move two more loads, he moved closer, wanting to talk with him, after his brother had come back from the dead. "Aniki!"  
Naruto paused in his work. Lifting more rubble and moving away from his brother to place it outside. He moved cautiously back towards the younger boy, the cause from the doubt that the genjutsu had placed in his mind. "What do you need, Sir?"  
Naruto silently cursed Temari, knowing that she had someone who was tailing him to make sure that he did stay in the maid character. "You don't need to call me 'Sir'. And why aren't you using jutsu to move the rubble?"  
"What should I call you then?"  
"What you have always called me. Otouto or Sato-san." Satoru took a step closer to Naruto. "And why aren't you using jutsu to clear away the rubble?"  
"Because Otouto, I have put the village into danger, from myself again. This was the punishment that I got where none of my limbs got chopped off." Naruto started to move the rubble again. "And I can't anger the Lord Kazekage anymore than I already have, can I?"  
Satoru thought this over, grinning at his brother when he walked back, deciding to help him doing some of the rubble moving to keep talking. "So Aniki, what did you do the last time?"

 _ **{Two Years Ago. With Gaara.}**_

Gaara had finally found a quiet place to rest just for a bit. He was lucky that his brother hadn't found him yet to take him back to the paperwork. He soon fell asleep looking up at the clear blue sky. It was then that he felt a pull, somewhere that he had been before that was calling to him again. Gaara stood at the edge of white and what seemed to be the remains of his mindscape.  
"Gaara, I didn't expect to see you here so soon." A blonde boy appeared where the edge of the white space ran along the mindscape. "I thought it would at least take a few more years before I was able to bring you here."  
"What do you mean a few more years?" Gaara looked at the blonde boy. "How do you know my name?"  
The boy sighed, shaking his head a little. "Well a few years in the living world before I would be able to bring you to this part of your mind that was still connected with the 'neither' for lack of a better term... And I have known your name for a long time now, it was hard not to when I could keep an eye on my sweet little Otouto."  
Gaara looked dubiously at the blonde smiling boy, a smile that seemed vaguely familiar to him. One that seemed to come from a dream from when he had almost died. The only thing that had remained clear was that smile, the words that would stop him from getting revenge on the people who had hurt him and allowing the people who did care for him a chance. "So how do you know what my name is?"  
"Sato-kun was following Konohamaru-san around the day of the chūnin exams. Konohamaru-san bumped into your brother Kankurō-san. My... sister, Aiko is a hot head and charged into the situation with her friend Sakura-san. Things were going to get ugly very quickly had Sasuke-san not thrown a pebble at your brother's hand, and had you not shown up. Both your brother and sister sounded scared when they said your name. Hence I know that your name is Gaara." Naruto took a deep breath, to point out that that was the end of that part of his speech. "And my name is Naruto, since I don't think you remember it from the last time we met."  
Gaara nodded in acceptance, feeling as though he could trust the blond boy in front of him. "You are correct, I do not remember having met you before." Gaara continued to stare at Naruto, taking in his blond hair, blue eyes and whiskered cheeks. If not for the whiskers he would look like the Fourth Hokage exactly, and Satoru Uzumaki-Namikaze, for the exception of the eyes. "Why are we here?"  
Naruto smiled at the boy in front of him. "Well, I don't think that you are close to death, or I do not believe that we would be talking right now… Is there something that is weighing on your mind?"  
Gaara looked to the blonde for a moment. "That smile of your's, I think that I have seen it before… back from the chū- what is this about my being near death?"  
Gaara looked at the guilty smile that had just happened to grace his face. "Well the last time we met you were near death. In the chūnin exams I believe was the time and you were fighting Aiko. After that incident, I've been able to watch over you as well as Sato-kun… Although, I must admit, I don't know how your mind has stayed connected to this realm of the 'neither'."  
"So at the moment, we are just going to say that it is the work of Kami?"  
"That would be correct!" Naruto shouted excitedly before clapping his hand over his mouth. "I think that I am starting to revert to a normal twelve year old."  
"Are you not a twelve year old boy though?" Gaara looked over Naruto, taking in his features that did look to be the age that was stated.  
"My body was that of a twelve year olds when I died, but because of a jutsu, my thought process was quickly becoming that of an adult's." Naruto looked carefully at Gaara, waiting to see if he would speak, but he stayed silent, waiting for Naruto to continue, "but I died because of the side effects of the jutsu destroying my mind, and body."  
"So there is a way to bring you back?"  
"Yes, there is."  
"What do you have to do?"  
"You need to have people/beings who will let you take away years from their lives."  
Gaara looked at Naruto with a shocked expression.  
"What about the others that used this jutsu?"  
"They would be able to come back as well, but most people do not want to take away the years that someone would need to give, from those who are willing. Since most of the time, it is the lives of the ones that we love the most." Naruto turned to look in the distance behind him. "But everyone back there, the people that they would wish to see, they have already passed on."  
Gaara stared at Naruto, watching as he turned back around to face him. Naruto tilted his head at the expression that Gaara was giving him.  
"In exchange for letting you come back to the living world, would you be an advisor to the Kazekage, as well as the messenger to villages of my choosing at the times?"  
Naruto looked at Gaara in shock, gaping like a fish. "Did you think that I would want to take life away from you or anyone else?"  
"Well, if you wish to see Satoru Uzumaki-Namikaze again, then yes, I do believe that this is what you would want." Gaara made sure to keep his eyes locked on Naruto's. "From what I have seen from this place, the only people that end up here are the ones that use the jutsu that you have. With the rare exception it seems… So if you wish to see your Otouto again, then it seems like you need someone to give you years of their lives."  
"But there has to be another way! I can't unnecessarily take away the lives of people!"  
"But you wouldn't be unnecessarily taking away from my life!" Gaara shouted, his hands moving to hold onto Naruto's shoulders. "It is not going to be for nothing! You would be able to see your most cared for person, and you would be able to help me!"  
"You would still be asking me to kill you faster than what you should be." Naruto's head hung towards the ground, his fists clenched at his sides. "There has to be another way that will not shorten your life."  
"How long will it take you to find that Naruto-san?"

"I'm not sure. So if you just give me the time to find it-"  
"You're not going to find a way! Not in time!" Gaara cut in, moving the younger looking boy's face up. He saw the tears start to form in his eyes at the decision that had already been made for him, which was already happening through the force of Gaara's will, and the help of Shukaku, who wanted to be free of the person who was his jailor.

 _ **{Two Years Ago. Sunagakure Entrance.}**_

A large explosion rocked the village, the entrance was covered in a large cloud of dust. Kankuro and Temari rushed over, backed by many chūnin and jonin level ninja. Nine ANBU were scattered around the top of the village entrance remains, wondering just what had happened.  
"Where's Gaara?" Temari shot a quick look at Kankuro, who became as worried as she was.  
"Is it a kind of revenge against him?"  
"Maybe as the Kazekage, but not if they knew how he had changed!" Temari stared into the dust cloud, hoping to see something, but it was to no avail.  
Both siblings of the Kazekage were pleading to Kami that their younger brother was not in that cloud, especially when the sensory ninja had detected a large amount of chakra coming from inside.  
A shiver was sent up the spines of all who were there as they heard the roar of beast. Temari and Kankuro couldn't help but think that the bijū that Gaara contained within him, had somehow managed to take control. That thought was dashed when Gaara appeared just ahead of them, frowning as he heard a roar that seemed so familiar to him, and one that he had wished that he would not have heard coming from outside his mind.  
"Gaara you're okay!" Temari called out in relief that it was not her little brother in there. The relief she felt was short lived when Gaara started to walk into the dust cloud, which seemed be be getting thicker as time wore on. "What are you doing? We don't know what's in there!"  
Gaara ignored the words that were being shouted around him. He knew the chakra of the person that was contained within the smoke, and the feel of chakra that was emitting from him. "Naruto-san! I know that you are in there!"  
A roar was the only response that he got.  
"You can control this!" A wall of sand shot up in front of Gaara as a fist appeared in front of him. Gaara stood still as the sand would shoot up, protect him from a punch or kick, break and reform to continue the process. Eventually, he managed to grab hold of a limb of Naruto's. His hand tightened as he threw him out of the dust cloud and away from the village entrance. Again a large explosion rocked the village, with the accompanying sound of a beastly roar.

" **Suiton: Shigure.** "  
Gaara immediately started to move the sand to protect the village and ninja, that had just started to move towards him when he had heard the ominous sounding words.

"Kazekage-sama, what are your orders regarding the enemy?"

"Try not hurt him! He is not an enemy!" Gaara told his ANBU commander, before yelling out to the rest of the ninja to back away. "Temari! Kankuro! Make sure that everyone has made it to the shelters safely!"  
Gaara's hands moved slowly in front of him, a large hand made of sand moved to envelop Naruto, only to find that the sand he was using had become too heavy to move, due to the water projectiles from Naruto. The ANBU had moved around Naruto, starting hand seals shortly after each other for a barrier to contain him. The ANBU finished one after the other slamming their hands on the ground shouting " **Doton: Tsuchi Kairō.** "  
Large walls of earth rose from beneath the rubble and sand, creating multiple caverns around Naruto. More sand that hadn't been dampened by Naruto had come to surround the multiple caverns. " **Sabaku Rō.** "  
The sand held the the caverns, splitting slightly to allow the Kazekage through. Once he had passed through, it closed tightly behind, cutting off any escape routes, or entry from his shinobi. An animalistic scream was heard from the innermost cavern, as the blonde was fighting for control from the wild chakra of Shukaku. It was the silence that scared Gaara enough to break through his ANBU's attempts at keeping their village safe without hurt the boy inside. "Naruto!"  
"Stay back!" The sound of the blonde's voice with the animalistic roar behind it, stopped Gaara at the last barrier. "STAY BACK!"  
A large amount of chakra exploded from within the wall, pushing everything away from it. Inside the crater was the boy, lying down exhausted. Gaara rushed to him, thankful that he was alright. Carefully he lifted the blonde with the sand just out of the crater for the medics would be able to look after him.  
"Please take care of him." Gaara huffed as another medic was working on looking after him.  
"We'll take good care of him Lord Kazekage." The head medic assured him, making sure that each person was going to have the help they needed.

* * *

Let me know what you think...

Fūton: Bodiāmā = wind release: body armor

Hiraishin no Jutsu = Flying Thunder God Technique

Shī Surī = C3 (Deidara's most powerful large scale bomb)

Rasengan = Spiralling Sphere

 **Katon: Kaze Supaiku Rasenshuriken** = Fire release: wind spikes spiraling shuriken (I'm not great with naming)

Suiton: Shigure = Water Style: Showers

Doton: Tsuchi Kairō = Earth Style: Earthen Corridor

Sabaku Rō = Sand Prison


	12. Chapter 12

I realize that this is (maybe) shorter than what I usually put up, and isn't going to make things any clearer. If anything everyone is probably going to get more confused. But hopefully this was okay-ish…

* * *

Speech thingys.

"Normal"

 _Normal Thought / Other Uses such as Talking_

 **Kurama**

 **Jutsu**

Thought to add the time brackets thing in here to -  
 _ **{Flashback or Time Jump / Different Places / Different People.}**_

* * *

 _ **{Present Time. Sunagakure Entrance.}**_

Naruto looked over at the young Uzumaki-Namikaze moving few rocks with shadow clones, wondering if he would get another earful from Gaara about how he was cleaning up the entrance. At present though he was nervous to be around his little brother. And especially now, since another boy had shown up. "Are you helping to take care of Sato-kun?"  
The boy smiled and nodded, looking suspiciously at the blonde in the maid outfit. "Can I ask why you are wearing the maid outfit?"  
Naruto glanced at the young boy before him, smiling since it was all part of having to act nice to everyone that would walk by. "It is my punishment Sir, for I have done bad."  
A few men that had walked past at that moment laughed, causing the blonde to turn to them with a deadly smile. The men rushed off afraid of what the blonde would do later on.  
"Before you ask Sir, if you take a look around you, then you will be able to see what I have done wrong." Naruto moved his arm around him to gesture to the destruction of the entrance.  
"How have you made Satoru-kun help you with this?"  
"I am sorry Sir, but I have not made anyone do anything." The blonde shifted slightly as senbon were making their way towards him. "Please Sir, if you could refrain from throwing senbon while there are others who could get hurt around, it would be greatly appreciated."  
"You dare to imply that I would hurt Saru-kun!" Haku moved so that he was in front of the boy. "Why would I hurt the one who has brought me a new purpose?"  
"There could have been many reasons, Sir." Naruto moved over to a particularly large rock, pushing it to the edge of the rubble closest to the outer part of the entrance. He glanced to his young brother, and saw him stare between the two. As quickly as he was able to, he moved over to the young Uzumaki-Namikaze. "Young Mister, if you would like to go with your friend. It seems that I have upset him."  
Naruto's sad face made Satoru laugh a little. "Okay Aniki. But I am definitely coming back to help."  
The older of the two blondes had nodded, watching as the younger left with his friend. He quickly got back to work, so that there wasn't going to be anything left for the younger brother left to do if he came back.

When he was about halfway through the pile, the Kazekage had come. "What do you need Lord Kazekage?"  
"You can drop the act now." Naruto looked to his friend, knowing very well that this would not normally have been enough of a punishment. "The way that your younger brother was talking about what you were made to do, will probably not leave his mind for a while, so I hope that this does not happen again."  
The blonde moved towards his friend. "Good, now are you going to properly let me clean this up?"  
Gaara nodded and walked away as sand had started to swirl around the area that Naruto was working in.

After about an hour, Naruto had finished cleaning up the entrance. The blonde was glad since it meant that the younger Uzumaki-Namikaze would not be around him for a little while yet, as he still needed time to get rid of the seed of doubt that the Uchiha had sowed.  
Naruto walked through the village, a finger to his chin as he was thinking. _How much have they changed? Satoru-kun seems distant from them, and this new person seems very protective of him. That's good though, maybe he won't be hurt as bad this time around._

The blonde made his way to the Kazekage's office, knowing full well that he was going into the lion's den so to speak. He could sense the chakra of the person that contributed to his birth, and also the chakra of the man that did nothing to help him. Naruto 'poofed' next to Gaara, knowing that he was going to have to talk the Hokage and the Sage, as per demand of his friend.

The two occupants in the room that had not been expecting anyone to just be able to pop right in next to the Kazekage, had already moved so that they were in a fighting stance should the person start an attack.  
"Stand down." Gaara muttered ominously, looking pointedly at his two guests first before staring at his friend. "You cause me more trouble than I care for."  
'I'm sorry.' Naruto moved in their code. 'And I have come to talk to them. Are you going to stay?'  
"Of course." Gaara then motioned to the seat that had appeared next to him for the blonde to sit on.

The two guests watched the blonde boy with caution as he sat next to the Kazekage. They would have to trust the judgement of the Kazekage. "May I ask, Naruto-san, why you would affiliate yourself with the Akatsuki in Konoha, then turn on them now?"  
"That is not a concern you should hold." Naruto stated, his killing intent sparking to life. "My priority at the moment is to keep those that I hold dear safe."  
The redhead shot a look at blonde, letting him know what he thought about where he knew this was heading.  
"And I would like to make sure that my own son is going to be okay." Minato looked at the young blonde.  
"You are not going to call me your son again. You may be half of what gave me life, but you were never a father. Not to me." Naruto snarled, his killer intent rising again. "Did you know that the Shinigami doesn't only take lives as payment?" As Minato was about to speak, Naruto continued. "He takes away important bonds as well. Do you realize what that means ' _Dad_ '."  
The word was spat with such venom that not only the Hokage, but both the Kazekage and Sannin flinched as well. Minato looked at his eldest.  
"It means that you and ' _Mum_ ' gave up on me before you even tried." The blonde disappeared from the room while the Konoha ninja quickly excused themselves and made their way back to their inn. Each thinking about what it was the blonde had said.

 _ **{With Satoru and Haku. Sunagakure Streets.}**_

Satoru saw the blonde hair of his brother and ran towards him with Haku close behind him. "Aniki! I would like to introduce you to Haku-kun properly."  
Naruto nodded this time to the young man beside his younger brother. "Hello Haku-san. Thank you for taking care of my brother."  
"Protecting him is my life now. I will do anything for him." Haku stated before Naruto could say his own name.  
"Haku-kun, this is Naruto-nii. Naruto-nii, Haku-kun." Satoru happily inserted to remove the somewhat tense atmosphere that both of the males that he cared for had created. "Why don't we go for lunch. Aniki, do you know where a good place to get food would be?"  
"Yes. If you would like to follow me."

Naruto lead them to Suna's dango shop. "I hope that you do not mind. Personally I would love to go back to Konoha for the ramen. Nothing beats Ichiraku's, but this comes second to me."

The shop owner welcomed them in with a big smile. "Welcome back Naruto-san. We'll bring your meal out shortly." The shop owner was about to turn when Naruto spoke.  
"Would be able to add on more for two extra people?" Naruto asked the owner.  
"Is it Naruto-sized or standard?" The owner asked in turn with a cheeky smile.  
"Standard thank you, Hideo-san." Naruto replied with a smile. "And on Lord Kazekage's tab as well thank you."  
"Does it ever go on any other?" Hideo moved towards the door behind the counter, leaving the trio looking for a seat in the little shop.

One group of people had moved away upon seeing the blonde with two guests, saying that they were leaving as it was. Naruto had looked at them before motioning for them to sit back down.  
"You know what will happen should Gaara find out about this."  
"And maybe we want to see that again." One of the females moved towards the blonde, trying and failing, to gain his attention.  
"No please, take your seats back. There is a small table that the three of us can fit on over there." Naruto pointed to the back corner, before moving towards it with his two guests.  
The other group sat back down, but they had disappeared by the time that the small groups food had appeared. "We will make sure that your plate is always full, while you are sitting here." Hideo muttered when he saw the table that the three were at. One day soon he decided that he was going to put in a table just for the blonde advisor, just to be able to fit all the food on when he came in.  
"Thank you Hideo-san." Naruto smiled at the man as he placed the first lot of food on the table.

"It has been a long time Otouto." Naruto smiled at the boy, but the tone of his voice was ever so slightly colder than it had been before. 'Stupid genjutsu.'  
"How did you manage to come back to life?" Satoru looked at the boy in front of him, who could now be passed off as his nearly identical twin. "Why didn't you come back to get me?"  
"I came back thanks to the Kazekage. And it wasn't the right time to get you." Naruto looked at Haku. "Haku would not have met you, neither would he have been able to leave Konoha if I had come to get you. Did you really want to leave Haku there all by himself, facing questions from your… father? He would have been placed under Ibiki Morino and Inoichi Yamanaka to find out if he had any idea where you had gone. The methods that are used in Konohagakure are not always pleasant."  
"There are many things that aren't ' _always pleasant_ ', Uzuma-" Haku started but was cut off by said blonde.  
"Do not use that name when referring to me. I am not their son, neither are they who I would call parents." Naruto turned to look at his little brother again. "I know that you weren't happy there because you were able to choose to stand by my side, and for that I am sorry."  
"And if I wanted to come with you now? What would you do?" The younger blonde asked.  
"Well first off, there would be a heated argument between me and your father. Of course the Kazekage would have to be included because this is where I am comfortable staying, and whether he would be alright with adding two new shinobi from another village, considering the fact that you are released and have not run away making you two rogue ninja."  
"The Hokage and his wife are not my parents." Satoru muttered darkly.  
"Then do you wish to leave?" Naruto asked the young boy before him. "The both of you?"

 _ **{The Next Day. Kazekage Office.}**_

Naruto looked at his red head counterpart from across his desk. "I want to know if you will take on two more shinobi."  
Gaara stared at his friend before sighing. "What brought this on?"  
"I had a talk with Sato-kun and Haku-san yesterday." Naruto smiled as he saw the thought of his friends tab being made larger thanks to that talk. "And yes, there was more added to your tab."  
"You know that you're helping to pay it off."  
Naruto nodded slightly before moving on. "They aren't taking care of him as much as I had hoped they would having seen how they treated Aiko-san and the others before."  
"Much changes over time. You know that it can." Gaara rested his chin on his hands. "I will need to talk to the Hokage. And the second shinobi will be Haku-san?"  
"Yes. I have seen that he is going to follow Sato-kun anywhere." Naruto murmured. "If he comes here, I hope that it will be more beneficial than if he were to stay in the leaf."  
"The Hokage is going to have to agree to this." Gaara stated, while standing to move to the window in his office. "There is the very real possibility that he will declare some sort of war you know."  
"If he truly loves Sato-kun then this is a good way to start to make amends with him." Naruto whispered before disappearing from Gaara's sight.

* * *

And yes… my grammar is still horrible :,

But let me know what you think...


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